BlackberryJam

Except, you know, Victarion, and all of those pages of rape the show cut out. (Someone did an analysis and the books have 4x more rape than the show. Yet seeing it is somehow more horrific than reading it.) Parts of the books are fantastic, but there is a whole lot of terrible crap that rightfully got cut. I was happy to eliminate the entire Fake Arya storyline. The first three books, fantastic, and there are some truly beautiful lines. (How can such a night be beautiful? he asked himself. Why would the stars want to look down on such as me?) Count me as one who hated show Cersei as well. Hated as in I didn't want to watch her. I didn't enjoy her smirking and drinking wine. Book Cersei is a hilarious mustache twirling villain and much more entertaining. I didn't watch Once or the later seasons of ER, but I do hate a character who eats the entire show. Example, Hannah McKay in Dexter. *shudder* Hated her so so much.

Been there. Done that. Whenever I felt like I was standing at the cusp of GoT crazy, I'd dive into the abyss of the #samcait tags. I never watched the show either. I agree there is a difference between loving/loathing a character and loving/loathing their actions. It is all a matter of watch-ability. I absolutely agree with this. I loved Dexter, first three seasons, when I could enjoy the fact that Dexter was a creepy serial killer. Then they attempted to woobify him and I began hating Dexter so, so much. Compelling, well-acted characters, whether their actions fall on some side of good or bad, are more interesting to watch than purely good characters. I say this as someone who couldn't stand more than 38 seconds of Touched By an Angel.

That is definitely NOT the minority opinion. Ned and Jon are held up as paragons by the fandom. I hate Josh Lyman from TWW. Every single bit of him.

I can understand some shipping for representation purposes. And some of it makes sense, like Sansa/Margaery. Or Jon/Satin. I don't see how Theon/Ramsay makes sense because Ramsay literally cuts off Theon's penis, but some people are into that? I guess? (I'm cringing here.) I admit to being a Jaime/Brienne shipper, but it's so overtly romantic in the books and show, and while there is an age difference, both are at least adults. Jorah/Dany makes more sense because he doesn't rape her. I also never understood incest shipping, be it Jaime/Cersei or Jon/Dany. But yeah, the GoT/ASoIaF fandom is so large that there is every kind of shipping. I stopped venturing into the larger fandom places like w.org and reddit because of the dogpile whenever complete support isn't given to the wonderful Starks! or the amazing Targaryens! Years, ago, I foolishly entered the conversation about the best swordsman in Westeros, quoting GRRM who said for a trial by combat he'd chose 1. Alive Arthur Dayne, 2. Two Handed Jaime or 3. Brienne of Tarth to defend him. Not a Stark, not Jon, not Rhaegar, not warhammer Robert, not the Mountain or the Hound. I barely came out of that discussion with my sanity in tact. The rabidity of that fandom has turned me against so many of the characters.

You might want to dig a little deeper into the fandom for some even weirder stuff. Sansa/Tywin. Arya/Tywin. Sansa/Roose. *shudder* When the books begin, Arya is 9 and Sansa is 11. In the show, it's 11 and 13. But still, shipping an 11 year old with any character (even Gendry) over 12 is weird. In the books, Dany is 13 when she marries Drogo (30ish). People ship that.

It really is about fan spaces though. With GoT as my easy example, if I, as a big fan of Jaime Lannister, and a hater of Ned Stark, venture into any of the reddit forums and question the Ned worship while expressing some Jaime love, I' going to get treated as if I shoved a kid out a window. I'm not talking just Freefolk, the fanfic subs like TheCitadel are just as bad, if not worse. It's not just a gender preference either. Expressing dislike of Sansa AND Arya Stark can make me fear for my safety. But you know, I'm going to do it anyway. Sansa Stark was dreadful. She was a snotty preteen who couldn't keep her mouth shut because of her desire to be the most popularist prettiest girl dating a prince. It was her actions that directly led to Ned being captured. Arya was a loathsome murder child.

I dunno...I've never seen either film, but as an actress, sometimes you have to just take a film that will pay, no matter how you feel about it. I've never actually seen GA or any film starring Heigl. My experience with her was watching the TV show Roswell, where she played the bitchy one and she was good.

Because her career is really what mattered minutes after the shooting. /s

Hi, have you met the GoT/ASoIaF communities? Book purists v. Shownlies! Jon fans v. Dany fans v. Jonaerys/Boat Baby fans v. JonSa fans. Sandor lovers! Endless arguments over the best swordsman in Westeros! Debates over characters mentioned once in one paragraph of four thousand pages. Ugh. It goes on and on. That fandom made me HATE Ned Stark. I even LIKE Sean Bean and don’t care about him always dying in films. But the section of the fandom that acts like Ned Stark is the bestest, moralist, awesomest character ever? Come on. Dude was in ONE season (book) of an eight season (five book) show. And he got played by a snotty teenager who beheaded him in front of his children. I would be fine with Ned if I didn’t feel like shoving a dirty sock in the mouths of Stark fans. But instead? Ned can suck it.

Best couples, Helo and Athena.

I loved Starbuck in theory, but hated her in execution. There was that entire arc where she just needed to shower.

Watching Jackson dole out his own rope and then finish it offer was so, so painful, that I rewatched most of S6, Las Vegas this weekend. Those were some incredibly difficult challenges, and wow were Kevin, Michael and Bryan way ahead of the pack. I think they won something like 13 of 14 ECs. The only other competitor to win an EC was Jennifer. Sure, they had a hokey cookout challenge and, but they had Joël Robuchon in for one of the dinners. Just rewatching that season makes me realize how much location matters. While Houston has some great restaurants, local ingredients and food, Las Vegas is where chefs and celebrities make real money. I've been to Vegas a couple of times and the best part has always been the food. Well that, and the 8 hours I spend in a spa getting creams rubbed into my skin.

Johnny’s testimony is a case study in bad preparation. This man is an actor, who should have the skills to remember lines, portray himself in a particular way, remain in character. But he’s a bumbling mess up there. It leads more credence to the information from a prior witness that he used an earpiece and was fed lines on set.

I rewatched S3 RW episodes last week and since both had so many problems, they had them do it all again for the next challenge after hearing feedback. I liked that, because it was a situation where neither team was a clear winner, and if they’d chosen a winning team, someone was going to skate for a crappy dish.

Ezra is a great young actor, but yeah, I expect to see them checked into a rehab facility pretty soon.

Twenty seven years into my career, I can absolutely assure you that a spouse can have had other positive relationships in the past, and when in a toxic marriage, becomes horrifically violent and abusive. Not all abusers are serial abusers. Depp has even said that Amber triggered him. The thing about the term, "triggered" is it means "caused to act." A person's poor behavior isn't a reason for the other person to be physically violent. No doubt Amber screamed, yelled, threw things, but Johnny hit, kicked, pulled hair. Marriage nightmares are made of.

You can also watch via Youtube here. I just watched 10 minutes of Johnny testifying and wow does he seem unprepared for the questioning. The answers are rambling, run off topic; his speech is slow without being deliberate; there are multiple weird pauses. I'm not saying he looks like he's on something, but more he's talking as if he hasn't slept in five days. I'd expect him to be more polished. I'd also expect her attorneys to be objecting ...a lot. It appears though that this is one of those trials where they are each going to throw everything at the wall and let the jury sort it out.

I never watched more than one episode of Seinfeld because every line was predictable and not funny. When I, as person who watched one episode, could anticipate every line of dialogue and was spot on, it can't have been that good or innovative. (I can do that with most sitcoms though. "And now that character is going to say something along the lines of, "Why do people always blame me?" and then the other character is going to say... Reason #1 why I don't watch sitcoms and why my family refuses to even have them on when I am present.)

Someone had married Humphrey, who looked like a pile of dirty laundry. I find Neville much more charming, and as someone who a ton of allergies, I like to think they don't make me that unappealing.

Quoting someone from this thread, I believe: Ted Bundy didn't kill every woman he met either. The "he never did it to me" argument doesn't hold up and it's inappropriate to make. I bet "he always seemed like such a nice guy" too. The UK court found that Depp assaulted Heard 12 times and put her in fear for her life 3 times. The Court heard and saw the evidence and made that ruling. What was not at issue, and is still not at issue in any trial, is whether or not Heard was also abusive to Depp.

Because the less powerful don’t have the money to defend the lawsuit. It’s taken years and probably seven figures in legal fees on both sides. The less powerful, mostly poor people, are more likely to be abused and forced into keeping quiet about that abuse for fear of these types of suits. Again, it’s why the Weinstein victims kept silent for so long. I am not okay with that. I am not okay with the poor, the weak, the less privileged having to live in fear of lawsuits when they reveal abuse by the powerful. Amber isn’t innocent, but “crazy chicks” are much more likely to be abused because they are viewed as less credible. People with their own mental health issues are often easy prey. It was a toxic relationship, but Johnny Depp is no innocent deserving of “justice.” He’s creep and a cretin, who with a combination of alcohol, drugs, unattractive aging, bad judgement and ill-advised business decisions has destroyed his own career. The UK court was a suit against the Sun, not against Amber. The different parties are the reason the US court did not dismiss, not because there was anything wrong with the UK decision, which found it perfectly valid to refer to Johnny as a Wifebeater.

I understood what you meant...and it's fine. Wil does seem to be coping well and he is talking about what happened to him. He seems to be dealing with his mental health. I do feel for Jerry. He was eleven and he still feels bad for not knowing what was happening and trying to help. I'm not hearing those same sentiments from the adults involved with Wil. River is dead. Wil is opening up about his abuse. Corey Feldman...enough said. Jerry seems to be the only one from the film who came out of childhood acting relatively unscathed.

I've read both of these and enjoyed both! I recommend the remainder of the books in both series. I really enjoyed the Gethsemane Brown audiobooks. I'm glad to hear they worked for you too. I read the third Beaver Island book this weekend. It wrapped up one of the overarching stories nicely. These are very light and funny. Is anyone else reading the Edith Head mysteries? Edith was a Hollywood costume designer. They are enjoyable, but the misogyny of the time gets a bit annoying.

I get what you’re saying, but the phrase, “turned out all right” always bugs me. Wil has managed not to become a drug addict, a criminal or suicidal. That’s great. But as a survivor myself, I’ve heard that, “turned out all right” and all I can think of is my history of poor and risky sexual decisions, the mess I made of my romantic relationships, my issues with food, etc, etc. I managed to stay out of prison and haven’t been in a mental institution. I am very successful in my career. I don’t wear my scars on the outside, so they are harder to see. Wil is right. People are very, very good at covering it all up so no one knows. I’m glad that he can talk about it, and he and Jerry had this moment.

Based on the discussion here, and what I had heard and believed beforehand, I’m certain I don’t want to see it. I don’t need convinced. I already feel a little sick whenever I hear a Michael Jackson song, and I feel especially sick when his music is used for a figure skating/gymnastics routine, in a soundtrack, etc. I am especially disgusted by the Jackson family’s attempt to shut these boys down to save the cash cow.