candall

LOL--I keep forgetting his name is really Donald. There's a little snerk that keeps on giving.

WOW! Sometimes my dirt lane has a case of empties, presumably tossed out by jerky teenagers. So, how do you deal with all that stuff? Do you do a daily beautification sweep or does it all eventually just float back out again? P.S>I'm guessing "trash disposal" is a major headache for you as well as for me, or anyone else off the beaten path. (People, cherish your weekly trash pickup and your handy recycle bins.)

Ugh, "my boo" always gives me a rage spike. Thought it was just me.

Oh m-a-a-a-n, I swore I wasn't going to get hooked on MAGIC again and then five minutes during channel surfing led me right back to scoring a daily multi-hour fix from Lifetime. But good grief, this show was rich with excellence. It's too bad that one whole era is dismissed as "Denny's ghost" because Bailey, in particular, was at the top of her game. I'd forgotten she was the pivotal character--keeping both subordinates and superiors in line, being hard when necessary, soft when appropriate, involved in peds surgery, everyone's touchstone. Go, Bailey. With the benefit of hindsight, the introduction of the Mercy West crew is interesting. I know two of the people who seem rather significant are really just cannon fodder. Not surprising Jackson's still around today, but no one would have predicted flaky Kepner would have such longevity. I remembered Christina had a careless mean streak, but I'm shocked at how often she flips out. Lexie had some chops, right from the beginning--still miss her. George and Izzie staring at each other from either side of the elevator door is still my favorite scene from the whole series. I fast-forward the Christina-Owen relationship parts. She's gone and he was a mess then, still a mess today--why bother?

Not much chit-chat happening here. Hello-o-o? I really enjoyed the "decades" competition more than regular CK. The time-appropriate costumes, food and challenges made it more interesting to watch than just checking in on the ever crazier sabotages. Grunge Alton was every bit as funny as Sgt. Pepper Alton. Seems like the show might have chipped in for a cash bonus prize to the ultimate winner.

This show didn't benefit from that hour-long documentary that's been playing all week about a real group of roadies. Those people live rough and work hard and exult in it--it was fascinating and made this look like a bunch of slick silly hijinks. I loved the smooth flowy shots of the skateboarding; I didn't love shoehorning in the troublemaker brat. Can't we just have language and nudity and adult stuff without a precocious kid? Uh oh, I'm more like the bean counter than the freebirds. I wonder when that happened?? .

Ladies and gentleman, the part of the salty old Broadway babe, usually performed by the late Elaine Stritch, will now be played by . . . Ms. . . Cloris Leachman! Oh, Hank. For one brief, shiny moment, you got it. SO close. You were th-i-i-i-s close. Tell Jill we all said hi. .

To me, that was the smartest decision Ben's ever made, Below Deck-wise. If Hannah insists on having those "define our relationship" conversations with him, then yes, professional is a smarter choice than personal. BECAUSE IT'S WORK. I screwed myself on my first serious job because I didn't want to be "bossy," I wanted to be "friendly." Until one day, right after pizza buffet with my new BFF-slash-secretary, she laughingly tossed my 50-page handwritten brief back on my desk and told me I better figure out how a typewriter worked. Ruh-oh. I went crying to my teacher friend for comfort and he said, "Look, everyone starts off his student teaching semester wanting to be fun, wanting the students to like him. And it's a disaster. First you have to be the jerk who requires discipline and makes them do the homework and then you can relax and be someone they like. You can always go forward but you can't always reverse gears and go back." No telling how often Hannah would have leveraged their official "friend" status: "Why are you acting the priss just because the dinner service went a little sideways? I thought we were supposed to be friends."

Darn it! I've confused my dislike of Michelle and my dislike of Bronte. Hmm, my reaction to Bronte feels too strong to just be about that silly little hairbow and her overly effusive gesticulating. . . NO!!!! Forget Bronte and Michelle, I will now literally hate-watch Corey.

Sea salt seems rather intuitive for a functional adult--maybe he's always thought it was C-salt? I love anecdotes about post-technology kids with things like hard copy maps (because that afternoon we all spent in the third grade turned out to be critical, and who knew? North goes at the top!) In 20 years, probably every thriller will feature a character who needs to read a crucial document, but it's written in cursive. God forbid the plot hinges on writing a check.

Got a dedicated thread and I'm out of the closet. See you there!

Episode Three : wow, you add liquor and these whackjobs just IMPLODE. And yet, the next morning, there are Brandi and Aubrey talking about Pauly D and Calum in terms of love and relationships??? Is it possible to actually die from having your self-respect drop so far below "zero"? I only saw Father Of The Year once--I guess he was busy in his preferred service area, the bathroom. When that woman sees the first episode, she's really going to regret signing the release to appear on camera.

I confess, I didn't even notice the young magician's sight gag. I only focused until the extra-long box showed up and then I turned into Simon Cowell with the clowns: nope. I looked away from the sword swallower too, after the recitation of organs he'd punctured. The thing about YMCA is that I'm really curious about what else he can deliver that would be as good. No other synchronized group springs to mind . . . except maybe Gladys Knight's Pips? Home-schooled was so open and puppy dog friendly, he was infectious. Generally not a fan of clever lyrics music, but I remember inhaling my drink into my lungs and choking the first time I heard the Uncle Bonsai classic, Boys Want Sex In The Morning.

I have to marshal my thoughts about kids on this show while the young magician is still fresh in my mind. I wrote a scathing criticism about how it's wrong to give the seniors a pass based on age instead of talent . . . and I think the same has to go for juniors. I know it's different, because they're young and innocent and no one wants to see those eager little faces crushed . . . but what the hell are they doing up there in the first place? How many screeners said, "Well, you're not very good, but it's just adorable that you're trying. Passing you on!" Master Chef Junior, Project Runway Junior,, DWTS Junior Competition--no other competition occasionally tosses in a talented ten-year old against a bunch of adults who (supposedly) have an advanced skillset. That wouldn't be fair to the kid and it wouldn't be fair to the adults if a kid made it a few rungs up the ladder because he's a cutie pie. If the next Charlotte Church shows up and blows the audience away, awesome. Otherwise make a Junior version and level out the playing fields. * * * Ah! Junior contortionist! Mesmerizing, age irrelevant. Whyyyyy EmCeeA!!!

Thanks, I missed that! I thought the Bighead half of Bachmanity would only be used to generously share his stock, when Erlich inevitably refuses. (Leaving Erlich as the majority stockholder, naturally.) I'm a Bighead fan and would love to see him be a trifle less aimless. If he initiated buying PP and also left Daddy cooling his heels, he's on a serious roll! .

I appreciate that Richard and Monica haven't developed into moon-June romance, but Erlich and Laurie would be great. Erlich's tempestuous enough for two. I don't know why they don't utilize the programmer with the bright blue/fuschia hair--she's smart, cynical, hardcore, funny. Is it because she makes all the rest of them look like losers? Does it have anything to do with being a Mike Judge Production?

I was going to snark about Giada being so obvious with her crush object, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. I can't tell how fluent Damiano's English is, maybe she's just being extra encouraging to someone working with a language handicap. I have to say, though, there's a contestant on Big Brother who speaks unaccented English and whoo-boy, he can switch on the thick, hot Latino accent at the drop of a hat, which is amusing because he's openly laughing at his own flirtation game. Marteeeta burned me; I have trust issues.

Oh, but that's Joy's cutesy gimmick--Ah've never heard tell of the stuff on that sad of the board. Sticking her with kimchi bread pudding was nice karma. (Hush puppies made a smart compromise, though!) Does having nine kids blind you to the fact that fathering 32 kids is likely to be viewed today as appalling and irresponsible? Is he proud of his family's "fruitful" tradition or does he think Gramps will deflect the risk of someone tsk-tsking about nine? Rob rendered mute about whether his dish worked was just as strange as Ana forgetting the word "asparagus." Are these people strung out and sleep deprived, like the Project Runway crash test dummies?

Richard's impulsive behavior was so stupid, I started to despise him. Voluntarily fessing up to the numbers fraud when simple silence/refusal to sign only made his product more desirable: stupid. Jumping in to vote "yes" when he's witnessed the sea changes a slight delay can bring: stupid. Laurie was also implausibly dimwitted not to realize the buyer to which they objected would not be the one from 30 minutes earlier. Service to show. But I loved the friction between Erlich and Richard being resolved by a gigglefest in the very next scene. And then everyone being reluctant to ruin the happy camaraderie by pushing very hard with the awkward shares discussion. Yeah, Erlich's not famous for his magnanimous nature. Heh. And Dinesh finally gains some traction. Very nice setup for next season. SO much better than going back to the Hooli trough.

Mike wagging around a six-year old in a baby basket was hilarious. But her head circumference is, like . . . ? .

For various reasons, I caught the last 15 minutes first. (Okay, I woke up on the couch and could NOT tear myself from Lady Mormont dressing down the Sers. Awesome.) But it was a great way to see it--the coronation of Jon, the coronation of Cersei and the launch of Danaerys' fleet, then back to the beginning for everything else. I did wonder, though, what tribunal put Cersei on the Iron Throne? Ha, I learn later, no tribunal--she just marched up there on her own initiative! Is that allowed? So many good bits! I loved the shot of the horse looking up through the skylight at the dragon flying by. I enjoyed Sam and the snooty receptionist at the Citadel, but I hope Gilly doesn't end up rearing that child out in the lobby while Sam loses all sense of time, feasting on reading material. The show is so dim on my non-hi-def tv, I couldn't see that the books were chained to the shelf, so thanks for pointing that out. On the plus side, I couldn't see the grisly bits in the Black Walder pie. Damn, the league of child assassins is severe.

Well, this is nonsense. There undoubtedly are dogs that unscrupulous people [die in hell] breed to be vicious--dogs bred to win or die trying in illegal fighting rings. But "actor" dogs would need to be even more responsive than "normal" dogs so they will reliably obey "sit and stuff." A predilection for aggression is the last trait you'd want for a professional working dog--rather, the opposite. I don't blame the guy for not wanting to be strapped down and covered in red syrup with a giant dog in his face, but no need to hold himself out as an authority on canine breeding and behavior. Hmmph.

REDUCED EPISODES??????? Not even ten?! I love and hate this show. Re the salary, I figure they filmed all of Tyrion's scenes in Mereen at one time--maybe a week? Probably same with Cersei and Jamie Lannister? Good net figure for them. Okay, Jon Snow had a tougher row to hoe this year. : )

Woof. That's a lot of nougat for filming what amounts to an hour or two of screen time per year. ************* If you're tempted to take "The Hardest GoT Quiz" on Zimbio, don't waste your time. 107 pages/photos of characters, takes forever, 98% obvious, and a boatload of cookies from every fourth or fifth photo being an ad. Identifying which handmaiden was "Irri" was about the only time they made it difficult.

Woof. That's a lot of nougat for filming what amounts to an hour or two of screen time per year. ************* If you're tempted to take "The Hardest GoT Quiz" on Zimbio, don't waste your time. 107 pages/photos of characters, takes forever, 98% obvious, and a boatload of cookies from every fourth or fifth photo being an ad. Identifying which handmaiden was "Irri" was about the only time they made it difficult.