halopub

Villalobos shared a Christmas pic of a grown Yahtzee. It doesn't indicate anything about how Jasmine has adjusted, but that they would post the pic is an encouraging sign that the adoption is sticking. Norma Rae got adopted!

Trailer Taping report #1 (finalgear forum, no spoilers) Taping report #2 (reddit, hints about celebrity brain crash)

The build may have been half-assed but I agree that there was lovely potential in Jeremy's MGD. Kind of like a charming, junior monster truck that'd actually fit on the street of some countryside village. Richard Porter just tweeted a rewatch of the episode and says he heard MG tried to do something like Jeremy's MGD. There must be professional customizers who have tried matching all sorts of neat car bodies to a chassis like this.

The 77 is based on Sue's voiceover. Paul was very clear at the time of the initial kerfuffle and stated that it was 30C the baking day after all those additional freezers failed. So 86F. There are news reports that year which talked about a number of days around 90. We can probably look up historical weather in Welford, but I don't know which weekend that episode was taped. He did face consequences for his freak out. Without anything left for the judges to taste, he got booted. With the lack of working freezers on a very hot day, others like Chetna also had melted creations but presented what they had. He also had to address the media rabble about his own "meltdown" (seriously Newsnight?) in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast. I'm not going to revisit my lengthy earlier posts, but I don't think we'll agree about what level of responsibility Diana may have had Iain's creation failing to set. You are certainly not the only one who believes Diana got thrown under the bus by production, regardless of Sue's utter surprise at the uproar the episode created. Diana and her family felt that way. If I recall correctly, there was a report that contestants asked production for a non-elimination that week because of the impossible tent/freezer conditions. Hollywood, though, felt that would be rewarding Iain's breakdown. Richard Burr did notice that contestants last year (2016) each got their own freezer, so Love Productions may have learned their lesson on that front.

The pilot was a one-off at 11 PM, on Food Network, back in October. A couple of us discussed it in the Paul Hollywood thread.

Realscreen: Buddy Valastro pits “Bakers vs Fakers” I wasn't wowed by the pilot ('Bakin with Bacon') but I guess Cooks vs. Cons must be getting decent enough ratings to justify the spinoff. Valastro is a better fit than Paul Hollywood to host this kind of show.

As much as I enjoy Jeremy’s writing, in his car reviews he sometimes plays too much with points and counterpoints, leaving me confused as to whether he actually liked the car. James is better at including just the right amount of technical exposition while telling a clear story that even a lay car fan can understand. The NSX review was fantastic and I felt like I got the car in a nutshell. The hybrid sports car is “1/8 the price of a LaFerrari” but “cleverer,” can ride as smoothly as a Honda Civic and has “space-age four wheel drive.” It’s hard not to compare James’ work to Chris Harris’ own NSX review, which was one of the stronger segments on recent Top Gear. But with all of its exuberant technical detail, I was left to conclude that yes, the NSX is a great car from Honda, but I'm not going to remember much else. The review didn't stand out from all the other well photographed films out there. In X-Ray Richard Porter did mention that the NSX’s drive-by-wire brakes are, by law, backed up by a conventional hydraulic system. Not that it's really feasible but I'd love to see that three engine, drive-by-wire wheel system on a non-sports car to see how it would handle winter weather. The Excellent: They really like using chassis from those old Land Rover Discoveries. The stripped down one looked like a ton of fun to drive. Whether it was intentional or not, they got in a Dacia reference - which I only know from the old Sandero running gag five years ago. I laughed every time Jeremy had to push the MG back onto the chassis. I really like that they didn’t ruin some random place for the MGD and drove around at a testing ground for military vehicles. They so casually brought into those Chelsea players without identifying them or telling us what they actually said. Are there any rats in here? I liked the anticipated rebuttals to Jeremy’s voiceover. Electricity generation: They could have gone further with this and should have – in Japan. There is some genuinely interesting work being done to capture energy from people just walking around in stadiums and airports. Richard’s real life dog looked so skeptical. Hee! Other thoughts: I think they conflated Stuttgart with the place they were, a couple miles away. I kind of get the air quality alert. In cities like New York there can be air quality alerts on sunny, relatively clear days, when weather prevents outdoor ozone from dissipating. The haze might not look bad but the air is oppressive to breathe. I think it would take a few viewings to catch all the little details they sneaked in. From X-Ray: Albern mensch: silly man Mittelgrossen mann: medium sized man Menschlicher hund: human dog “Well good – British street slang meaning very, very good indeed. Used in this programme by the urban gangsta, James May.” Richard Porter also provided Jeremy’s auction description of The Excellent: “Hand-crafted by a renowned British atelier, The Excellent sympathetically marries the chassis of the esteemed Land Rover Discovery in sought-after mark 1 specification to the body of a Mercedes SL of the so-called ‘Dallas’ shape, rightly regarded as an exemplar of understated style. Benefiting from the revered 3.9-litre V8 engine, originally by Buick of the United States and substantially improved by the Rover company of Solihull, The Excellent boasts effortless on-road performance whilst the subtle but ingenious application of a Birmingham-engineered separate chassis and four-wheel-drive system promises enviable ability on more demanding terrain. Cosmetically, the exterior of The Excellent is in exceptional order and resplendent in a grey colour from the Mazda company of Japan. This car exudes good taste, as indeed does its creator. Conversely, the interior would benefit from some minor attention but its hard-working condition in no way compromises the great joy this very special machine beings to any right-thinking occupant. The Excellent represents a unique opportunity to acquire an exquisite piece of forward thinking design and engineering, and one that is sure to become a landmark in the evolution of the automobile.”

Kingfisher still hasn't fixed their website but Google cached the page before it went down.

Interesting...The Sun is speculating that Hammond's awkward, homophobic characterizations of ice cream were actually a planned reference to a local ad campaign.

A redditor was able to screencap one of the bus stop encounters that got my attention. So E's got suspect, fake-looking hair and quite the timing to John's long text. Then there is the shelter advertising with Toby Jones. The lines include both "he's back" and "it's murder."

I've never seen James May as gleeful as he was playing hot potato with that sex toy. According to X-Ray, script editor/critical wordsmith Richard Porter writes the trivia. Also, Giovanni was apparently genuinely terrified of the parasailing but was "too polite" to mention his fear of heights beforehand.

Dorset Echo: They set up the tent at Ludwigsburg Palace. Edited to add: Trailer

Namibia special. I hope it's okay with the mods that we combine the episode threads for the two-parter. Kingfisher Kustoms describes the buggy builds(alt link) More pics on Shifting Lanes(alt link) Kingfisher provides a little bit of detail on what input the producers and hosts offer during the process There is also some info on timelines, filming logistics and spare equipment The ship wreck is the Eduard Bohlen. I laughed at the line about the prolapsed V8 and"He's got a 90 horsepower engine but a 4 horsepower foot."

New York Magazine: Carrie Fisher and Craig Ferguson Were a Hysterical, Heartwarming Late-Night Duo Plus, Craig recently posted a Christmas photo with Geoff, Grant and Josh.

I'm sure she was prompted by the producers during her one-on-one. But yes, Chetna was much more serious about the competition than the others. I agree that Paul often provided needed counterbalance to the other three. On rewatch, I laughed at James asking if he could also taste the canapes he made.

Yeah, it didn't fit the atmosphere, really, of either London or Somerset. At least the Mustang didn't look cartoonishly wrong, like the F150 did in Top Gear season 6.

In fairness to James, Chetna spied on his work first. Heh. I'm glad he acknowledged the other contestants after the technical and joked on Twitter about getting brought before the medical ethics board for his kanellängd. I was disappointed that James didn't do better in the showstopper but he and Chetna are two of my favorite contestants of all time. So happy to have them in the same episode. Now if James could just switch out those old timey glasses.... And yay for Howard finally getting to present his own custard to Mary and Paul. The editors went out of their way to cut together flashbacks and comments for hyped up tension: James stating what not to do with ganache and cutting to Janet's bowl past issues with baked Alaskas, gingerbread structures the infamous custard incident, then cutting to James in the present making his own Sue's past infractions with the elbow I so was relieved that Chetna's baked Alaskas came out okay after that crazy drop in the freezer. "Obviously the freezer knows it's me!" I actually thought the innuendo was a bit much this time - stop fondling the phallic horseradish Mary - but hey, it's the last episode on the Beebs.

The BBC posted a little thank you montage to Bake Off.

It was nice seeing Ali get the handshakes - I liked how he iced those paisley cookies.

I hope you figure out if it's a particular ingredient or one in combination with others that's irritating your skin. Is it possible you've tried a new food that might account for the allergic reaction? O'Keefe's now has a basic Lip Repair balm that I like but not everyone tolerates petrolatum. I've had decent luck with Rosebud Minted Rose lip balm. Boots Botanics makes a line of tinted lip balms with relatively discernible ingredients. I'm a big fan of Working Hands, sometimes in combination with other moisturizers. I used to really like Origins' High Elevation cream but it has since been discontinued.

Edited to add: official link is up.

The Playlist: Bryan Fuller Teases ‘Hannibal’ Miniseries Based On ‘Silence On The Lambs’ The rights to the source material will be acquirable in August.

Amanda spoke with The Telegraph about how she and Martin split up just before filming season four, which the paper says includes new issues in the Watson marriage.

I'll have to rewatch to gather all my thoughts but it was fun to see the trio in such good moods, the GT40 film was classic and the Christmas section was funny. I cackled at the Darcy line. And I actually understood the argument about which chocolate bar is messier. With the Ford Mustang, I caught two digs at Top Gear's Hoonicorn tour of London but there were probably more. I am confused about...Andy Garcia. Were there any other random people in the collage of famous Finns? Should they have gone with Conan O'Brien as Tarja Halonen?

Neat! I don't think I've heard about that. I enjoyed this episode a lot. The cinematography was as saturated and gorgeous as expected. Plus they did a much better job of balancing the more scripted silliness with genuine moments. I only had a few minor quibbles. The Battleship Game was my kind of ridiculousness, with the nod to old school Top Gear conkers and May doing his victory dance. I just wish the segment hadn't broken up the Morocco film. And then the setup of Hammond supposedly believing he's discovered an ancient civilization really could have been cut. I can see why the TV critics liked the snippets they saw of the race around the sets. I would have loved even more driver perspective shots of the cars going through those narrow openings and then between the pillars. Things I dug: jams made Cows on the truck roof Clarkson version of profundity: You've done enough when you stop wanting to be an idiot David Attenborough has never said that The shipping container hovering over Golden Earring Anytime they use Dusty Springfield for a sequence the Alfa has a range of, oh 300 yards All the guys asking the animals nicely to cooperate James having fun speeding around in the Zenos How can the Zenos not have doors? "I furnish my cats with doors." Scripted or not, a lot of the sequential asides from the guys on the trip and at Battleship made me laugh The 70s and 80s references the casual reference to one hit wonder "Pass the Dutchie" Jewel of the Nile