Hana Chan

What's going to happen with Whitney's partnership with Jessica inevitably falls apart the way her deal with Ryan did? Because we know that sooner (rather than later), this venture will go the way of every one of Whitney's other businesses and Jessica will be tossed to the rubbish heap to join every other person that thought that working with Whitney was a good idea. And she'll be stuck with this braying donkey in all of her wedding photos.

We might have only met young John and Mary a few times, but their histories are very solidly established in the SPN lore. Maybe we don't know precisely how they met or where they went on their first dates or what they had for dinner, but we know the end point. We know that Mary was raised as a hunter while John had no clue about the supernatural until long after Mary's death. We know that Mary made the deal with Azazel to save John (condemning Sam as a result) and that she broke ties with her family. We know that John knew nothing about his heritage as a Man of Letters and that he didn't start learning about monsters and hunting until after Mary died and he spent the rest of his life trying to kill the thing that killed her. Sure, there are a few small blank spots to fill in here and there, but I can't see how you're going to create a series that spans an extended period without risking making the new storyline a bad fit with what we know these characters will end up as. I would not have minded a John-centric show with young Dean and baby Sam in tow as he started discovering the supernatural world and unraveled the mystery about Mary's death. Actually seeing what happened to John and how he evolved from the loving family man to a hardened hunter is a spinoff that I wouldn't mind watching. Retconning John's and Mary's history in order to make a series isn't. And that is a huge problem for Jensen. The interest in this series by SPN fans is lukewarm (to be generous) and I think that he knows it. Telling fans at the NJ con that he's okay if people "hate watch" The Winchesters because that means more viewers doesn't imply that he's got a ton of confidence about it. He knows that he needs to capture a large portion of the SPN audience and try to get viewers who never saw or liked the original show. To me, it seems like we're being set up for diminishing returns. I'm not hoping that the show fails because that hurts the chances for more SPN content in the future. I'll give it a chance, but I'm not going to pretend that I'm at all enthusiastic about it. And I do wonder that if Jensen weren't the one trying to get the show off the ground if there would be even a fraction of the interest, or if it would join Bloodlines and Wayward Sisters as another failed spinoff idea.

I don't doubt that Jensen loves SPN. What I question is the judgement of using John and Mary as the focus for the first major post-SPN series. We know their story and it sounds far too much like in order to make the series work that a bunch of things are going to be retconned. If the John and Mary story doesn't flow neatly into the canon series and the mature characters as we know them, then it's just not going to work for me. I don't have a problem with Jensen's production company playing in the SPN pool, but trying to rewrite a story that we already know just feels like bad fanfic. I would be much more interested in exploring the SPN world through new characters and a different setting (the world of Samuel Colt would have been fascinating), but we'll have to see how this plays out. The SPN universe has so much potential and I'd love to see it actually expanded and not just revisiting the same characters. Since it doesn't seem to have been mentioned here, the reason that Jared wasn't at the NJ con was because he'd just been in a very bad car accident. Thankfully he wasn't badly injured and there were not fatalities (and Jared a passenger, not driving), but per Jensen, Jared is fortunate to be alive. Very glad that he's on the mend.

I'm just so over Whitney's behavior. That she's pushing 40 and still has no clue about how to act. Everything has to be All. About. Her. All the fucking time. Even at a "friend's" and "business parnter's" wedding, she simply cannot stand to to have everyone's attention on her. Positive or negative, it doesn't matter. Just so long as all eyes on her and that she's the one being talked about. You can excuse bad behavior (sometimes) for a very young woman just just might not know better (although a toddler can be taught decent behavior) but Whitney is a grown woman rapidly approaching middle age. At some point, you just can't overlook how someone is acting and write it off as them being their usual selves. Shitty behavior is shitty behavior and living like you are the central character in your own television program every waking moment of the day doesn't make you edgy or express confidence. A confident woman doesn't care if people aren't noticing that she's in the room because the opinion of others doesn't mean anything. But Whitney needs attention like the rest of us need oxygen. That expresses anything but confidence.

If we didn't see her act like this all the time, I could buy that she was drunk. But this is the norm for her. Under the best of circumstances, she's a loud, braying obnoxious character who has to be the center of attention at all times, so it's not out of the realm of believability that she would make a spectacle of herself at a "friend's" wedding.

We've seen repeatedly that Whitney has zero sense when it comes to basic manners and any kind of propriety. She's like a child with nothing in the way of impulse control - she just acts and if someone doesn't approve of her behavior, then they're just "haters". I'd feel sorry for Jessica, but it's not like she wasn't amply warned about what getting tangled up with Whitney would mean. The best thing that ever happened to Ryan was the end of their partnership. Interesting that she's there with Lennie. I thought that she had this amazing thing going on with LeBlur. Travel restrictions are lifted for European visitors so if there was something (anything) happening between them as a "couple", there would be nothing to prevent LeBlur from attending as Whitney's plus one.

First of all, Jensen did a great job directing. A few fun callbacks to SPN (along with a Jensen cameo at the very end) but nothing that go in the way of the episode's pacing. A lot of stuff going on. I can understand Geri's confusion and anger about the mystery of her parentage, but she's taking it out on the wrong person. She knows Abby well enough to understand that she was asked to keep a secret and is not to blame for this mess. It was entirely on Marv, but since he's dead, Abby gets to take the brunt of Geri's and Gail's anger. It's unfortunate that Geri is letting this get in the way of her relationship with Cordell, but at some point she is going to recognize that the Davidsons are not good people and remember those who did stand by her and accept her as one of their own without caring who her blood was. And that the Walkers are still accepting Geri, even given how much pain the Davidsons have caused them. Speaking of the Davidsons, it was nice to mostly have a week free of them except for the one halfway decent member of their family. Colton isn't to blame for what his parents and grandmother are doing and I feel for him that it's costing him his friendship (and possibly more) with Stella. But I can't blame Stella for holding a grudge against the Davidsons. Still, returning her mother's jewelry to Stella was a nice, decent touch. Glad that Colton is a much kinder person than anyone else in the family, who only seem interested in pursuing their own interests. Cassie is starting to grow on me and I'm glad that, personality-wise, she's nothing like Micki so she's able to develop her own dynamic with Cordell. Not all that interested in the missing partner storyline, though it is very sus that the "widow" and captain ended up together within six months of the supposed death of Miles. Glad to see that I'm not the only one. I can't listen to that song and not think of SPN and my boys. I still miss that show.

I think that the whole thing was just a contrivance to knock the Walkers down as low as possible so that they could rise up again, stronger than ever. They need to stop treating the Davidsons with kid gloves, because the Davidsons have shown time and time again that they will go for the jugular every chance they get and not care who gets hurt in the process. Denise didn't seem to give a shit that Cordell's children were going to be made homeless because of hers and her mother's vendetta. They don't give a shit about any collateral damage in getting what they want. And the Davidsons have played so dirty, with Denise abusing her office to persecute Bonham (and I'm using that word deliberately), her husband using the illegal surveillance on the Walkers and then the horse race that I'm sure was rigged. It's now time for the Walkers to stop playing nice and start showing just how strong they are.

The thing is that the plus sized fashion industry has changed pretty dramatically and it is possible to find stylish, well made clothing that's trendy or fashionable. She was a spokesperson for Eloqii awhile ago and they dressed her very well. If she want something more quirky, Mod Cloth goes up to a 4X. eShakti will customize pieces and many dresses will go up to a size 6X! There are clothes out there. Yes, it sucks that if you're outside of the straight sizes that you have to put in some additional effort but it's not impossible. Even Lane Bryant does have some decent stuff (though they need to let go of the cold-shoulder look). But the trick is to know what would work best on her body and Whitney certainly has access to a stylist who could help her. She's much bigger on the bottom than she is on top, so she would do well with dresses that can balance her out without making her look like a shapeless mass. An A-line dress would work well for her and something with some structure that would help give her the impression of having an actual figure (and not so round all over). Nothing is going to make her look like she's a size 6, but well fitted and well made clothing will always help one to look their best regardless of their size.

Was just thinking that the Walkers would have very clear grounds to sue the DA's office in general and Denise Davidson personally for malicious prosecution. That she allowed her personal interest in the case to color her investigation of her father's death (which she shouldn't have involved herself in out of a sense of professional ethics) and that she publicly slandered Bonham in particular and the entire Walker family in general. And that this is a pattern in the DA's office, given how the previous elected DA was involved in the murder of Cordell's wife and that Denise actively tried to prevent the rangers from properly investigating Marv's murder because that would get in the way of exacting her pound of flesh. Liam is at loose ends right now. He could use a hobby and this might be a fun thing to fill his hours with.

To quote my father, "Just because you can wear something doesn't necessarily mean that you should." There are plenty of clothes in my size, but I am very particular about what I wear so I'm not interested in bodycon dresses or shirts that show my midriff. I don't mind a skirt that comes above my knee but I think that a miniskirt at my age, however fashionable it might be, is silly. And while I love my maxi dresses in the summer, I am aware that I look like I'm wearing a nightgown. I think that I have a sense of personal style that's part boho, part classic and it works for me. Whitney is in her late 30s now and still needs to have other people dressing her so that she looks presentable. She's so used to wearing leggings and tank tops on a daily basis that wearing clothing with more structure is automatically uncomfortable. She just carries on like she doesn't care, but we're supposed to give her credit that she managed to roll out of bed and put anything on before tromping out the door. Combing her hair should be considered a major triumph and we've all noticed when she's taken too long in having her extensions redone. I'll sit in the hair salon for five hours every two months having my roots blended so I get that nice platinum blonde ends with dark roots and I cannot survive without my mani/pedi every three weeks. If Whitney wants to be taken seriously in any venue, dressing like a grownup, taking care of herself and acting like a human being would certainly help. It's time for her to grow up.

Maybe not in front of his wife, but he's going to blab to someone. Especially if he had something to do with Cordell's cinch snapping. Because he's too much of a sleeze to try to win fair and square. I'm still fuming over how Denise was talking to Cordell while he's packing up his house. She expressed absolutely zero regret that it had come to this or that it hurt someone that she once cared about. That BS about the two of them being the ones to end the feud was crap considering that she was all but shoving Cordell out the door and locking it behind him. Not to mention trying to put Bonham in prison and really trashing the good name of the family in the process. If the feud does end because of Cordell linking up with a Davidson daughter, it's not going to be Denise!

I'm kind of confused as to why Walmart would pick her for their commercials, as she's not exactly a wholesome, uncontroversial type. While she's got her fans, most people view her as a walking carnival sideshow. There are certainly plenty of other plus-sized models and personalities that have higher profiles than Whitney and not come with a fraction of her baggage. And is there any word on how/where this ad will air? Because I'm wondering if the people in Walmart's PR team is aware of some of the other companies that Whitney has been shilling for and I can't imagine them going ahead with a large campaign and not fully investigate who they're featuring in the ads.

Well, just when we thought that the Davidsons couldn't sink any lower... while we need some conflict for the Walker family to rally against, this is hard to stomach. The soap opera level of nonsense with Geri being the long missing Davidson daughter was something a lot of us predicted and it's unfortunate that it seems to be causing a schism between her and the family that had embraced her for so long. Am hoping that she's going to use this "in" as a way to help the Walkers because I hated seeing the ranch house gutted like that. And Denise can go sit and spin on the nearest cactus. First using her position try to railroad Bonham into a prison sentence and all but kicking the Walkers on their way off the ranch. And that bullshit simpering to Cordell about how she'd thought that they would end the feud between their families when she actively worked to destroy his family. I really am hating that the she, her rat of a husband and her mother can get away with so much while the Walkers are basically being dragged through the dirt. Glad that she at least got a little bit of a hand slapping from the judge at Bonham's bail hearing, but that doesn't begin to touch on just how badly she's abused her professional authority. It's heartening to see that the Walkers are sticking together through this. Cordell understandably feels a lot of guilt over losing the horse race, but no one is blaming him and they shouldn't. He is a lawman and his first instinct is to help others, even at cost to himself. Bonham is exonerated and back with his family and the Walkers are a united front. Here's hoping that they are able to knock the Davidsons down a few pegs.

Totally agree. And the key is that whatever she wears needs to fit. I mentioned before that my dad worked in the fashion industry and he always told me that anyone, regardless of size, is always going to look better in well constructed clothes that fit. A very slender woman can look good in something oversized and shapeless, but if you're plus sized, you're just going to look even larger and more shapeless. Whitney needs clothes that emphasize (or give the illusion) of her waistline and skim over her hips. Things that are poorly made and clingy are just going to bring the eye to her rolls and bulges. Of course, in the fat acceptance/liberation movement, that is the point but even now, I hate it when a dress shows off my belly bulge. They want to insist that to want clothing to be "flattering" is fat phobic but I'm going to totally disagree. Some clothing just works better on some bodies than others and while everyone should wear what they like and thinks makes them look good, the reality is that if you wear something that just draws attention to your belly, bumps and rolls, that's all anyone is going to see. And you can't complain if that is what they remark on if asked how they think you look.

Back from the void and this is what I come back for? I'll agree with bunch of previous posters that the majority of the clothes are... not good. Nothing that I would want to wear (although I will argue that they're just slightly better that the FLDS chic dresses at Target. And it does make it very clear that on the venn diagram, there is a very clear intersection between Whitney's audience and Walmart shoppers. Am not sure who that speaks worse about. Yes, Whitney has gotten heavier (and it's not that the tv adds 10 pounds - she's well past that point). But she didn't look terrible in some of the outfits. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times in the future - a woman, regardless of what size she might be, will always look far better in clothes that fit instead of the sports bras and leggings that Whitney is always clomping around in. For all her flaws (and they are considerable) she's not an entirely unattractive woman and dressed in something halfway decent, she can look good. Whenever she got dressed by a brand, like when she was with Eloqii, she always looks infinitely better. But left to her own devices and she's lazy and slovenly. Maybe a skinny girl can get away with not taking care of herself, but I learned the hard way that when you're plus-sized, you have to put in double the effort to look decent. Fair or not, you're going to be viewed in a harsher light. Whitney isn't a kid anymore and running around in ratty clothes isn't cute. She just looks like a fat blob that doesn't care.

What Denise did with August wasn't illegal as unless the minor is the one suspected of the crime, there's nothing in the law that prevents them from being questioned. That doesn't excuse the rest of her conduct, which is highly unethical to say the least. She knows that professionally that she needs to recuse herself from anything involving the investigation of her father's death and her family's land dispute with the Walkers. Just as Cordell should have had nothing to do with the investigation of his wife's death (and for the most part, he was kept out of things until the very end of the investigation), Denise has a personal interest in the outcome of both these matters and the role she has to play in her office is to be impartial in seeking out the truth of any case that crosses her desk. She has been abusing her authority and by all rights should lose her job over using her authority to pursue her family's vendetta against the Walkers. The horse race was an idiotic way to resolve the land dispute and given the way Cordell's girth just gave way, I'm calling obvious sabotage. You're trying to tell me that a wily man like Bonham would have put an old, defective saddle on a top racehorse? For all the years that I've worked with and rode horses, checking tack for wear and damage before I got up on the horse. And yeah, big difference between Cordell (who stopped to make sure that his rival was okay when he was thrown) and Dan (who ignored Cordell's hard fall and used the opportunity to win the race). The Davidsons as a whole (minus their kid) are proving themselves to be complete assholes and it's nearly impossible to sympathize with whatever legitimate complaint they might have against the Walkers because of their their shitty behavior. Yeah, I'm calling BS on the "blood on the lantern" conceit as the DNA (if there was any) would have been degraded by both the fire and any judge worth their robes would rightly question why the DA was involved in a case for their father and call them out on it. That's not to say that there weren't some good things about this episode. The big appeal of this show is the tight bond between the Walkers and I love watching Cordell go all papa bear to protect his kids. And Jared has become a more secure rider, which is nice to see. Here's hoping that things will go better for the Walkers the rest of the season and that the Davidsons are sent packing.

That was always one of my favorite exhibition programs from Yuzuru and it really displays his incredible talent. I'm slowly (and not happily) accepting that his best competitive days are behind him because he's so much older than most of the other skaters he competes against and he's had so many injuries to his ankles. At some point, a younger skater was going to be the new "best" - at least as far as competitions go. While Nathan is not my favorite and I can't help from compare his style of skating as less favorable to Yuzuru, I accept that he's the current "best" (at least until the new "best" comes along). But when Yuzuru can just skate without judges, he is beyond sublime. There is no one that can touch him on the quality of his footwork and the nearly ethereal way he moves across the ice and the emotion he brings to his performances. That delayed single axel is a thing of beauty and he reminds us that figure skating is more than just jumps. I'm torn between wanting him to stay competitive because despite everything, he's still one of the top skaters in the world and I think that he's got more to show, but at the same time I hate watching him be disappointed with himself after a less than ideal showing and I don't want him to keep injuring himself trying to keep up with guys so much younger than he is now. Twenty seven is "old" for an elite skater and he's not going to bounce back from injury as quickly as he used to. He's had a stellar career that no one can touch (even the mighty Nathan Chen). Yuzuru might have more that he wants to do in the sport, but I want him to do it on terms that make him happy. Mostly it seemed the top three and then a few special invitees. I guess that Yuzu made the cut as the two-time OGM, but some of the choices were pretty random.

What I appreciate was that he wasn't tearing down Valieva because she is a tremendous athlete and he's putting the blame where it belongs. If judges would grade jumps with extreme pre-rotation correctly, than maybe these girls would be taught proper technique. What I was amazed by was just how little pre-rotation Yuzuru has. Even with his complex entries into his jumps, he really doesn't start to rotate until his blade is off the ice.

As if I needed to fall even deeper into the figure skating rabbit hole than I already have, this is a really excellent analysis of the pre-rotation that we see in the quads of Valieva (and also Nathan Chen to a slightly lesser degree). He's definitely calling out the judging as being the major problem, because if bad technique and pre-rotation is not penalized, then skaters will keep doing it.

I think that the scoring does have something to do with it. With the 6.0 system, scoring was easy to understand for the casual viewer who tunes in once every four years. Trying to educate them about how the new system works so that all these random numbers and reasons for them. And for those who don't tune in for the various competitions in the years between the Olympics, they don't get any kind of attachment to the skaters. Many viewers will only know of Nathan from his splat-fest in Pyeongchang and his win in Bejing. Personality does have a lot to do with it. Yuzuru is a total rock star in Japan in a way that no other figure skater has achieved and everything that I've seen of him is that he is genuinely a sweet, kind of shy person off the ice. That kind of personality makes him very appealing to an international audience. Nathan is a lot more brash and outspoken, which can be a turn off to some (especially the Asian audience, which doesn't tend to appreciate a distinctly American disposition). We need some girls to stay in the sport and be publicized, not torn down because they can't compete with the current crop of Russian pre-teens. When Mariah Bell won Nationals and gets called "ancient" in the US media, all that tells the audience is that she's past her prime and can't stand up to the Russians. The Russian media is currently holding up Valieva as a "hero" despite all the controversy swirling around her and the mess that her FS was, while we're going on about why we can't get an American woman on the podium. How profiles are framed is really important. Nathan Chen benefited after Pyeongchang by being referred to as the "Quad King" even after his failure. Highlighting the positive attributes of the US women skaters (artistry, strength, charm, etc) instead of their faults will certainly help with marketing the sport.

I've been thinking about why the talent pools for US figure skating seems so shallow and why we don't see such a huge number of top international prospects coming down the pike. It's not like the US is devoid of talent or good coaches. We know that despite efforts from the US fed that there are just not so many young kids entering the sport and sticking with it. Not like we see we artistic gymnastics. There are lots of factors, such as the once-every-four years attention span of the US audience, the cost of training and equipment, coaching and little financial help during their competitive careers. I think that part of the problem is that unlike other countries, there doesn't seem to be a career path for athletes once their competitive days are over. It's just not as financially lucrative and when you consider the immense expense it takes to get a skater to the elite levels. Unless you build a reputation like Michele Kwan, Sasha Cohen or Nathen Chen, there's just not a whole lot of you afterwards. There's no going on to skate in college (like gymnasts can). And the window for taking advantage of endorsements is pretty narrow with basketball, football and baseball players getting the lions share of financial rewards. Compare that to Japan and Russia where favorite skaters can go on to do ice shows that are extremely popular and lucrative. The Fantasy on Ice show that Yuzuru leads is so popular that he's got skaters from all over the world joining in (including Plushenko and Johnny Weir). Yuzuru has numerous endorsement deals in Japan, doing everything from skin care to chocolate. Because the sport is so popular in Japan, Korea and Russia, top skaters can remain relevant and financially rewarded long after US skaters are taking day jobs. Perhaps Nathan's gold medal can start changing things if he's able to capitalize on his success. Perhaps do a tour where he gathers the top US skaters and starts to inspire a new generation. Or he takes a role like Javier Fernandez does and works actively to build a strong national program. Success builds on success and young people are more likely to stick with a sport if they see that there is a future for the sport and those who participate in it.

I'm rewatching a few of the best routines from last night (and man, did the Korean and Japanese ladies shine) and I can't help from draw a contrast between most of the women and the Russian girls. Alyssa Liu is 16, a year younger than the top two finishers, but she's got a maturing women's body She has curves and breasts and hips. She's in exceptional physical condition, but she looks like the budding young woman that she is. Trusova, and Shcherbakova are a year older and look like boyish twigs in comparison. They don't look naturally slender and lithe. They look starved. They look so painfully (not naturally) thin. They're not able to do quads because they're stronger or in better condition - they do it because they probably weight as much as a healthy 12 year old. And the more I see it, the angrier I get over how they've been mentally, physically and probably medically abused. And I can understand Trusova's outburst because she knows that her expiration date is rapidly approaching. We know that there are younger girls at Eteri's rink ready to move into seniors and this was her one shot at the gold medal. Last year was probably the best year for her physically, and now she's already nearly past her prime. I'm not a fan of her style of skating but it's so sad to see.

It's not like they haven't been using this song all season for their program. The only reason that I can think of them suing while the Olympics are going on is publicity. And if K/F already had the rights to use the song for their programs, this lawsuit will be tossed pretty quickly.

Or that since Eteri is the only conduit for skaters to reach the Grand Prix/Worlds/Olympics, it's probably not a good idea to cross her. Especially since the top government officials in Russia have been expressing nothing but support for her and her methods.