Jodithgrace

Maybe instead of the Tim Gunn save, they should give him the Tim Gunn AUF...when the judges announce that somebody like Blake has won, he could step up and say, "Nope..not gonna happen." And send him home, to boot! I can actually see Blake being in the top because that dress was innovative, but the winner? No way. And personally, he is just so annoying. Totally agree with the auf, though. Still a couple of bottom feeders to get rid of before we can really see who the strong competitors are going to be. Swapnil is definitely one of them, if he can reign himself in, and Ashley also. I loved her dress tonight, though it wasn't unique. I'm not a fashionista, so i would rather see a well made lovely dress than an innovative piece of crap that would have to be completely remade before you could walk outside the door in it..but that's just me.

Funny story about Little Women. I first read it at age 7! I was a precocious reader and it was the first "chapter book," as my kids called it, that I ever read. It WAS a condensed version, which I didn't realize for many years, until I read it as an adult and it was like 3 times longer than I remembered! But anyway, I was so young that I didn't always get the Victorian style of writing, and as a result I didn't know that Beth had died until several chapters later. As I recall LMA said that she was "well at last." Terrific! She got well! And I certainly didn't expect a character to die..I was seven! Anyway, several chapters later LMA refers to the period since Beth's death, and I was, what? Beth DIED? I was totally shocked.

I've never seen TWD (shock, I know!) I thought maybe I'd watch this show, which is essentially a prequel, to see if I wanted to invest the time in catching up with TWD. I have to say that it was..okay. Some things had me muttering at the tv..Travis going to the church alone at night..has he never seen a horror movie? Nick was giving me such strong Johnny Depp vibes that it was actually starting to annoy me. Those old man clothes were just exactly what Johnny Depp would insist his character wear..even that ludicrous shrug in the opening scene! Everybody's reactions in the final scene were way too calm..from the reaction to "I shot Cal, " to Cal coming after them with unsavory intent. Where's the fear, people? Remember the name of your show! I too want to see the progression..my favorite part of the book, The Stand was the spread of the virus. Is LA going to completely go to hell in just 6 episodes? I'm in for a bit longer, but I hope these people smarten up fast or get eaten quickly.

I got The Martian, but have to finish A Manual for Cleaning Women first. I'm of mixed opinions about "..Cleaning Women." It got terrific reviews and the writer's life was certainly interesting, but it's not really grabbing me. The best part about it is that since it's short stories, I can put it down and pick it back up. But the stories are really all over the place, as was her life, apparently.

I just finished two wonderful books. The first is The Little Paris Boookshop, by Nina George, about a man who has a bookshop on a barge in the Seine. He dispenses books as though they were prescriptions for emotional ailments, though he is unable to cure his own heartbreak. Something changes and he finds himself on a Huckleberry Finn type trip down the canals of France into Province. It has food, gorgeous scenery and wonderful writing. There are even recipes and book "prescriptions" at the end. The second book is called Kitchens of The Great Midwest, by J. Ryan Stradel. This book is about a young talented chef named Eva. Each chapter is almost a stand alone short story, except that each features Eve..either as the main ingredient or just the vanilla extract, so to speak. It is charming and quirky..also with recipes.

I've been scratching my head lately over the new ad for Viagra. The ad is all voiceover, the usual stuff, while an attractive woman wanders around her stylish apartment and out onto her lovely balcony. But there is nary a man in sight, impotent or otherwise. So, how does Viagra fit into this picture? Oh, and she looks perfectly content, not like she's waiting for somebody or about to leap off the balcony from loneliness.

I could never understand chefs on some shows getting dinged for using frozen puff pastry, because puff pastry is extremely time consuming and labor intensive, and just doesn't fit into the format of most timed cooking shows. But IMO, there is no excuse for using store bought biscuit dough. Biscuits take 5 minutes to make! I had liked Alex, and though he was cute in a Peanuts character kind of way, but he did not know how to talk on camera, and so he had to go. Family reunion could have been a slam dunk for him.."We all love Aunt Betty's eggplant parm, but in the summer it's too hot, so we make it into a sandwich," or whatever. I had a least 20 ideas, none of which were hot soup. Oh well, I guess next week they are congratulating themselves on final three, when, surprise! in comes the spoiler from Star Salvation to much shock and dismay. Never seen THAT before..can't wait.

But calling them Kermit and Medusa probably wouldn't be politically correct. I was sorry to see Dom go, because when he forgets the camera or audience, he is funny and natural, and he seems to have been the best cook of the group. But fear of the camera is something that just may never go away and 7 weeks was more than enough time to loosen him up. So hubby and I agreed he had to go. I don't watch Star salvation..is it a pure cooking competition or is there a presentation part to it as well?

I did finish Watchman, and actually kind of liked it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can understand (if not sympathize) where Atticus was coming from. The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was a very bitter pill to swallow for the South. What Uncle Jack said about Southerners being fierce individualists who really hated people from the North coming down and telling them what to do, rings true to me from what I have read. I think that Scout does come to realize, by the end of the book, that Atticus hasn't suddenly turned racist overnight, but that he is trying his best to work within the system as it stood at that very difficult time. I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly. And I wish that but it was readable, and I am glad that Harper Lee will get this money while she is still alive.

This show! Such a goofy mess. It had better be only one season,because I'm certainly not coming back for season 2. Loved the Pilcher Youth doing their fist pounding salute! Did they learn to do that in school while they were learning fake science and drinking Kool-Aid? Loved Pilcher deciding to take his electricity and go home! No power for you, you ungrateful Wayward Pinians! So what if you are the only people left on earth? Who needs ya?! Loved reading all of your questions of logic, none of which occurred to the writers, apparently. I decided to watch this show when i heard an interview on EW Radio about how in the 5th episode, everything was going to change,including the genre. (From mystery to Science fiction, i presume) But what the interview failed to mention was the personality transplant that all of the characters, especially Pam, would undergo, with no explanation. Oh well, only one more week of this nonsense.

Go Set A Watchman has just appeared on my kindle, and I'm kind of afraid to read it. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books. Will this ruin it for me?

I'm seeing a chicken/egg kind of conundrum here. Did Danny become a sneaky psychopath because Daddy beat him after he accidently caused the drowning of his sister? OR Did Daddy beat Danny because he was a sneaky psychopath who not so accidently caused the drowning of his sister? The show is leading us to the first conclusion, so far, but it might be a twist that it was actually the second. I am suspicious of drowning deaths in families like this. These kids were born on an island, surrounded by water and boats. They were the kind of kids about whom it is said, "they could swim before they could walk." I'm sure Sarah could swim. I am currently reading a book about a suspicious drowning at a boy's school, where the kid who drowned was an expert swimmer, because he was a weakling who was using swimming as a way to build himself up. Right now it's only thought that the other kids only failed to save him, but I'm pretty sure it will turn out to be murder. Also..where is Meg's testimony? I know she was the youngest but she still would have been questioned. We haven't seen any Meg related flashbacks yet.

This is really frustrating because it's obvious that Danny is really good with people, and running the tours and the charters is like a job made in heaven for him. The brothers were actually getting along; Dany and Kevin got the truck to run, despite Kevin's misgivings. So , of course here I was waiting for Danny to mess it up, somehow, but surprise, surprise, it's dear old dad who is ruining things for everybody. Does it annoy him to see things running smoothly? And this right after all of his, "whatever makes you happy" BS that he handed his wife.

This is so funny! I just discovered the Books forum this evening and posted about this very book in the "books that disappointed me" thread. I summarized the plot the same way you did! LOL My unpopular opinion..I dislike Gone With The Wind. Scarlett O'Hara bugs me so much with her stupidity and the way she manages to make just about every wrong choice she could possibly make. I keep wanting to shake some sense into her!

I adore the HP books and have read and reread them several times. I even spent bucks to get them for my kindle, even though I have them all in hard cover. The thing is..I was already a grandmother when the books came out. I had heard about them for some time. I think the third or fourth one was out by the time I started them. But I almost didn't get through the first book. I thought it was too childish..all that nonsense with the letters, and the Dursley's over reactions. Then Harry got to Diagon Alley, and suddenly I think JKR found her voice and I was hooked. The thing that I loved was that book by book, as Harry got older, the books became more and more mature. By the end of Goblet of Fire, and the death of Cedrick, Harry is no longer a child, facing children's problems; he is a young man. The darker the books became, the more I liked them. I had no problem with Ron and Hermione..I saw the way the wind blew even before the Winter ball, and I liked Harry and Ginny also. i know these aren't popular opinions, but I never saw any romance between Harry and Hermione, though i admit that JKR did have some missteps in her romance writing. I'm such a shipper, though, i happily filled in the gaps.

OMG that is so true! I don't know what happened to Jean Auel, but she should not have been permitted to put out those books. 900 pages, of which 500 consisted of introductions and repetitions of the very lengthy Mother song. A book written by cut and paste, apparently. Not to mention a complete reversal of a character established over many previous books. Grrr! But that still doesn't make me as angry as a Danielle Steele book I read many years ago, after which I vowed never to read another book by her. It's called Lightning and it was about a woman who had breast cancer, and her husband was a complete jerk about it. So she leaves him (Yay, her!) and finds another guy who is totally sympathetic. However, this guy can't handle it when she makes a complete recovery, so she leaves him too. So far, so good. But then, because God forbid a woman should end up without a man, she gets back with her former husband, who is now fine with her (because she's WELL!) At which point I threw the book down in disgust and said, Never again, Danielle Steele!

Was there any rule that each person had to do one "protein?" Rosa and Jay could have shared the rib eye and portobello mushrooms, since they were on the same team. They could have done two completely different dishes with them. Heaven forbid they should think outside the box like that. Dom was really quite a pill about the rib eye. I had really liked him up until then, despite his poor presentation skills. Jay really does remind me of Lenny. But right now he does seem like the forerunner.

Well, I've read all three books, and frankly, they were terrible. The whole premise makes zero sense to me. When people started having mutant children, wouldn't they notice? And If they haven't had any mutant children at the time that Pilcher had his big idea, how did he know it was going to happen? I don't know enough about genetics to really explain why this makes no sense to me, but if genetic testing is showing a mutant gene..how large was his sample? How does he know it's world wide? (funny if it was just in Idaho, and the rest of the world is just fine!) And his meltdown in the third book? OMG..so stupid! I hated that twist, and the fact that there were no real plans for sustainability. Pilcher..worst. genius. ever! I am still watching the show, for pretty much the same reason i watched Under the Dome the first season it was on. It's summer and the pickens are slim. Incidentally, I skimmed the recap of the first episode of season 3 of UTD just to find out what insanity is going on. Apparently, people are now in cocoons! Wouldn't it be fun if they woke up in Wayward Pines?

So tell me, are we now supposed to refer to Black Cindy as Jewish Cindy? I think there was a big bad villain this season. MCC. They came in as a savior, and over the course of the season became the enemy. I mean, okay, I know these women are criminals. Most of them are not nice people and there aren't many of them that I would like to hang out with..well, except Red and only if she cooks. But to feed them slop like hogs and deny them books and education and proper medical care..and now to pack them in like sardines. Did you see the "new beds," they were so excited about? Now instead of two women sharing a cubicle, with no privacy, now there will be at least four. I felt so sorry for them. i guess that makes me a bleeding heart "librul." I was so glad they got that moment of freedom in the lake, before the cold reality hits them. I think it's interesting that Piper has taken just a deviation from reality this season. I mean, I don't recall her becoming an criminal mastermind in her book, or did I forget that part? Personally i think she was just bored. If you are intelligent, prison must be absolutely mind numbingly boring. And if your moral compass is slightly askew, like Piper's seems to be, well her new enterprise gives her something to do and think about. I'm sure it will bite her in the butt at some point. But right now she and MCC are riding high. I will be interested to see all of the ramifications of the guards' strike and the overcrowding, next season. I think if we have seen a softening of the women this season, that will soon come to a screeching halt when you double the population and there may be near riot conditions next season, when these women reach their breaking point. I thought it was a very good season, with some genuinely funny moments, and some really sad moments. I didn't dislike Alex, so i hope she escapes her fate, somehow. But alive or dead, i think she will be out of Litchfield next season. i think her arc may be done.

Well, this is quite different from the books, now, isn't it? The kids knowing is a huge departure, and in the books, the ever popular Theresa was in WP for 5 years before Ethan..but now she and Ben came later..so what about the big love triangle? I have to say..I love science fiction..and these books were just not very good. They did get me involved and I raced through all three, but there is so much that makes little or no sense, when you think about it later. First and foremost..why Idaho? Sure you had a small protected town, but the climate is untenable. There are no professionals and scientists and no effort to teach the people survival in a hostile environment. With all of Pilcher's planning for the future..he forgot to plan for the FUTURE! And why kill the few people you have left, over a few broken rules? So, so stupid.

I think that the reason that all of the supplies ware labeled Wayward Pines, was that back in 2014, when all of this stuff was bought, everything was always labeled, as a matter of course. There probably was a town called Wayward Pines, Idaho, on which this ark was modeled, and things had to be ordered and sent there. Of course, people might have wondered why this little town in Idaho was ordering vast quantities of non-perishables, but if they had a government permit, who is going to question it too deeply? Certainly not the suppliers. I just think that if you realize that the labeling was done in 2014, or earlier, and not in 2094 or 4000, whatever, it makes perfect sense. I still have plenty of issues with the show, like why haven't they recruited doctors or other essential professionals, like scientists? They wouldn't need a college, per se, if they had trained professionals who could teach the young in an apprentice type program. But if you are starting out with no doctors, and only one sadistic nurse, you are pretty much screwed. The so called other doctors in the hospital didn't actually exist, am I correct, or why else did Pam have to stitch up her own nose?

Well, what I mean by full under The Dome, is that the writers of that show took Stephen King's basic premise and just totally took off in a crazypants direction. This series is already jutting off from the first book. Maybe I'll have to read the other two just so I can gripe about it.

What I don't understand about the books, and by extension, the series, is why is everybody so mean and awful? I thought there must be some point to it until i got to the big reveal, and then it ceased to make any sense at all. If all TPTB want is for Ethan to accept his fate and become a part of WP, why are they going out of their way to alienate him and make him doubly determined to "get to the bottom of this?" For example, why accuse him of murdering his fellow agent and/or deny him a room at the hotel? Who cares if he doesn't have any of their fake money or ID? They made the place so miserable for him that it's no wonder he spends all of his time trying to escape. I've only read the first book and have no particular desire to read the other two. And if they go full Under the Dome with this, then I am out.

Perhaps she was caught doing exactly that. Sansa didn't mention the old lady to then, did she? I think she just said that she had friends in the North. After Theon ratted her out, Ramsay was on the lookout for anybody sneaking up to the broken tower with a candle.

Re: Sansa calling Ramsey a bastard..I think that Ramsey has to be a bit "restrained" in his treatment of Sansa because she is his wife and therefore potential mother of his heir. He can't really torture her physically or starve her or feed her to his dogs, especially with Dad looking on. Of course he is cruel to her because that is his nature, but he can't treat her like his other disposable women. If escape or rescue doesn't happen, perhaps she will get pregnant quickly. Pregnancy bores Ramsey, but he can't do anything to jeopardize an heir which would help cement his claim to Winterfell, so hopefully he would just leave her alone. Alas, given that he is a psychopath, he might not be able to help himself. Sansa picked something up off the ramparts, but I didn't see what it was. hopefully it will be something she can use to escape. Of course, one of the most horrifying things in the books, to me, was that story about the wife who starved (and tried to eat her own fingers) so perhaps I am being a bit too hopeful about Ramsey or Dad having any restraint whatsoever, heir or no heir. (shudders) Good for Sam. I hope he gets Gilly out of there though..he can't go on having to defend her honor every five minutes. So cool having Dany meet Tyrion..we are now officially in uncharted territory.