pasdetrois

This bugged me no end. All those sensible midwives, and not one thought to remove the big poufy vision-obscuring skirt and veil? Timothy is as tall as his stepmother. I'm really going to miss Sister E. Guess the actress got a better gig. My PBS station now shows commercials (yogurt), comments from the actresses and comments from the producer. I think that's where the missing footage has gone.

The thing I don't like about Shep is that he's real quick to turn on any Pretenders to the Throne. It's real important to him that those who are not landed aristocracy remember their place. His fabled charm and good manners disappear when he has to deal with a Craig or a Landon - when they "get above their raisin."

Or a teenage stalker move. What the hell is wrong with him? Bryan gives me early warning signs of being another Eddie.

Since only six specific families may occupy these cabins/homesites, and only down one generation, I wonder if the Seldens and the young pilot are the last generation of some families we haven't seen. Are the Seldens the last allowed generation, or will their future children be the last? I think there's a similar arrangement on federal land in the Shenandoah Mountains in VA, and perhaps in NM near White Sands. For all of the families, I guess the TV paycheck is a tremendous boost. Maybe the Lewis girls agreed to spend the winter in the second cabin in exchange for a family paycheck, because I'm pretty sure at least two of them were college students. The Lewises are such a quiet family. It was good to see Daddy Lewis crack a big smile in this latest episode. I ponder the practical things. Since electricity is nonexistent, how is Edna powering her cheery Christmas lights? Batteries, I guess. Do they all keep protein powder around in case they run out of meat? What about antibiotics? The Washington Post travel section had a story about riding the Dalton Highway, which ends at Deadhorse. The article mentioned some of the settlements we see on these Alaska shows. The Seldens' big ol' fluffy "puppies" are adorable, and all their dogs are magnificent.

Meant to ask: is it possible Brandi is pregnant? She's wearing a sweatshirt in a kitchen scene, and she looked to be 4 or 5 months along. Or maybe she had a bulky underlayer there.

Bingo. I think Whitney and Patricia are desperate to belong to old Charleston society, and for a male heir, and to up Whitney's masculinity quota. Kathryn recognized all that and tried it out for a week. But then she made her beeline for the better old Charleston dynasty. That's the source of P&W's anger - they were used and didn't get their way. Agree that Landon's snarky comments about Kathryn on her back were foul. I personally don't care for Kathryn's life plan, but I hate it when people attack women's sexual choices while cozying up to men who are act like goats in heat.

I think editing muddled the restaurant argument a bit. I suspect Brian was willing to go along with a brief, friendly on-camera date, and when Brandi tried to discuss their problems on camera, he drew a line and stalked out. I think he's determined to try to limit his TV exposure (and it ain't working very well). I also think he's mad about the stripper frolic. When she asked him why he was mad at her, he became angry because he thought she was being disingenuous for the cameras. I bet they argued furiously about it off camera. It's clear they are headed for divorce. ETA: Cary and her husband really get on my last nerve. What the hell are they trying to sell? That's she's a fabulous awesome catch? The obsession with expensive clothes and cosmetic surgery and his endless laudatory comments and her demure denials (when you know she's got herself on her own pedestal). They are very weird and I think fake as a three dollar bill. Puts me in mind of Jessica Simpson's father constantly talking about her body, and we all know how that turned out.

Where I grew up in LA/MS, it was to fool wasps into thinking the porch ceiling was the sky, so they wouldn't build nests on the ceiling.

I laughed hard when the Eyes Wide Shut party featured naked women, and Scott, Blake and Emerson had their noses buried in their smart phones. Another family that elects to have multiple infants, then immediately thrusts them onto TV (with hands held out for a paycheck). No thank you. Papa Zeno is lucky he didn't draw back a nub of a foot. He really pushed his luck there. He and Mama Zeno seemed a bit cranky. Kenya is a hoot. I'd enjoy hanging out with her, listening to her pithy observations.

According to LinkedIn, Danni has worked for the Ben Arnold Beverage Company for about 10 years. She's held a bunch of different positions there, most as product managers. Somehow Craig really believed he was in the running to be the bourbon division manager. He was utterly embarrassed when JD confronted him and told him otherwise. I suspect shenanigans - I believe JD and production led him to believe this off-camera just so they could knock him down on-camera. I think that's why he was so upset. Although I think he and Naomie are incredibly naive, I hate that they were publicly humiliated. JD sure seemed to relish admonishing Craig publicly. I agree JD is slimy. I think he hitched his wagon to Thomas, and he and Elizabeth are using the show to advance their "brand." JD sucks up to Thomas with a frat boy bonhomie, exuding cockiness, while to me he's utterly craven. I don't buy Elizabeth's sainted demeanor toward Kathryn either - she's playing a role. According to LinkedIn, JD has been in real estate for 10 years. Before that he was in medical sales, and he went to college in Colorado.

Great fun to see Colonial Williamsburg VA in some of the scenes. Benedict and Peggy going at it on an uncomfortable little settee - really? Peggy's voluminous skirts in the way and that heavy wig jammed up against the settee. Why weren't they in bed? If she's such a distinguished lady, wouldn't they be afraid of someone walking into the room? I can't get into Rodgers because of the actor's hammy acting. I'm fast forwarding through his scenes.

"I hope he doesn't plan to go through life without lying." Paraphrasing what sleepyhead deck hand snarled in her TH when grousing that the other deck hand wouldn't lie for her. Yikes. We may have our first lesbian sociopath deck hand. I like the tall cheerful deck hand. He appears to be sort of guileless.

It's interesting that Patricia seems more desperate for camera time than her son. And that she's rude and tacky sometimes on camera. Not very "old Charleston" of her. Now she wants to write a book on entertaining. Vanity, boredom, or have she and Whitney run through all the money? I would love to know what Charleston society thinks of her at this point.

Iconic? Let's go with Swatch.

This was one of the best hours of television I've seen in a very long time. It was elegiac. Plus, I learned stuff. It's funny how those of us who are, ahem, older project our own situations onto these families. I think a lot about life choices these days - where I live, how I make a living, working hard to be near family, wishing I had a little plot of land with a view, instead of being surrounded on all sides by people and traffic. Where I come from in the rural deep South, there have never been jobs. Plenty of land, but no jobs. Given their ages, I've wondered about these families' plans for the future, and we listened to them ponder the same thing. Do they stubbornly remain in the bush until the end, or do they give up their beloved homes and move to be near family and support in the hated cities? I'm glad they all have someone. I do feel that Bob was beginning to say goodbye. Maybe Nancy is there to convince him to move back where she and Talisha (and Ruger!) can care for him. Perhaps there were some very bitter times, but I like that they are loving and civil despite not being a "traditional" family. The Korth daughters are the Kardashian antivenom. Smart, beautiful, accomplished, grounded in reality and appreciative of what they've got. I love seeing how they all go about their daily lives in the bush. I'm a decades-long vegetarian. I became one after visiting a slaughterhouse and then a small-town meat processing plant in my youth (part of a work project). I've worked my way around to accepting the idea of very skilled hunters ending an animal's life, instantly and humanely. The other Alaska series show us scenes of animals caught in snares and steel traps, or struggling to run after being shot, and it makes me furious, especially when it's for fur. I've no doubt these things also happen on this series -- I think they all fur trap -- but I appreciate the fact that these hunters are aware of the ethics of trying to minimize an animal's suffering. The photography is so stunning. I used to shoot video and I know how hard the crews are working. I'm sure this is an experience of a lifetime. I keep hoping they are sneaking some food to Bob, who clearly doesn't get enough to eat because he's unable to hunt the way he needs to.

What would television do without melodramatic birth scenes? The screeching, red faces, flailing about... Timothy reading Freud. He's adorable. When Roseanne arrived at her friend the prostitute's home, she was all spiffy and clean. Chignon, pearls, the ladylike ensemble. In the very next scene, her hair's all bedraggled, as if she immediately went to pieces and became all slovenly. Her husband didn't sound like a gentleman - his accent. Mr. Phillips' bon bon of a little baby - big fat pink cheeks, big eyes...I could eat her up. I loved hearing more of Nurse Crane's story.

Craig looks so much better with his casually tousled hair. And he and Naomie seem to have real chemistry. However, if he decides working his way up the corporate ladder is not for him ("I want to run the bourbon business"), Naomie may move on. I sensed all kinds of behind-the-scenes battle lines being drawn, based on production, not on real life animosities. It seems like they are all turning against Landon, probably because she's trying too hard. Sometimes groups turn on the neediest, weakest member of the group. The roller skating party was clearly a production set-up, yet they're all bitching at Landon about the bus, the lack of booze, and so on. None of that was her fault. I think Shep is very annoyed at how production is handling the show, and certain people's story arcs. We see his annoyance coming though via his churlish on-camera behavior. No way he cares whether Kathryn attends an event. It was an excuse to be a huffy drama queen and vent his spleen at Landon. Didn't Cameran informally help Whitney set up this series? She probably views Kathryn as an opportunist of the worst degree -- we all remember Kathryn bulldozing her way into the earliest scenes, unscripted, and taking over the show. Cameran's trying to avoid being used for TV time, and Kathryn's manipulative ploys for sympathy. Plus, one learns the hard way to cut off the nasty emotional vampires. I'm disappointed in the direction this show is headed. But that's Bravo for you.

I'm thinking everyone does homework before production begins. In this case, preparing for the print episode, or last week's avant garde episode. The unexpected part of this week's challenge was print-on-print. Who fed Ken happy drugs? His cheeriness was so forced that it seemed as if he was faking it for the cameras. I didn't like his nasty smack-down of Sam last episode. Just because someone annoys you doesn't give you permission to attack them verbally in a very nasty aggressive way. I think production put Ken up to it, and Sam handled it very gracefully. On, and I hate Ken's black turban. With his tightly buttoned shirts, it's a very odd look. Guess this mess is between Dom and Kini.

Not sure if this is the correct place for this question: is that Jinelle in Kip Moore's new music video (Running to You)?

The Internet has made it easier, in that you can do a lot of online "guessing" and narrowing down candidates. For example, census records can help you locate someone who lived in Chicago, was born within a year or two of a suspected date, and had a certain number of siblings. Then it's a matter of searching for current addresses and phone numbers and cold-calling all of them. In many states adoptees have the right to request their "non-identifying information," meaning their birth records with their birth parents' occupation, physical characteristics, etc., but no name. But in most states the identifying information will not be released unless both birth parent and child register that they are open to being contacted. My friend paid an investigative agency to locate her birth son; she believes someone from the adoption agency sold the records to the investigator.

Maybe the Rezidentura woman arranged a pilot to transport the rat. Looks like many of us are thinking that Martha and the rat will take a ride together. When the agents were searching Martha's apartment, they leafed through her scrapbook. Were there photos of Clark in there? Stan was standing a few feet away. Excellent episode. I think Martha is in shock. I'm wondering if some shenanigans will go down in FL. Did the Rezidentural woman say that the plane would land in FL before heading to Cuba?

So listening to Brandy and Stephanie puts me in a savage mood. Juvenile potty-mouth bon mots issued in a breathy little girl voice age out pretty early. Say, age 15. Brandi is 36 (and thanks to what she's done to her face, looks 50). I think Brandi peaked as a DCC, which is a very big deal in Dallas, and has been aimlessly coasting ever since. Her husband is probably bored and having an affair while he "travels and works." Her cohort - Stephanie? - shows signs of intelligence when she frowns and tries real, real hard. I guess Cary's marriage may last, but I question the longevity of the rest of the relationships.

My friend is a birth mother and she has been involved with search and reunion organizations for decades. These groups are lobbying state legislatures to revise the closed adoption laws, as the adoptees feel they have a civil right to some of the information (e.g., health info). My friend volunteers as a researcher. In her experience, many of these reunions aren't as rosy as pictured on the show. It's tough to form new relationships, although some do manage it. Some adoptees feel rejected or like they don't belong anywhere. Some adoptive parents are threatened by the birth parents, and the adoptees defer to them. Some birth parents do not want to be found. I hate the efforts by the hosts and production to turn the reunions into exaggerated melodrama. These people aren't circus performers.

I adore this show. Agreed. Very rare in reality TV these days - these folks try to just go about their business even though they are surrounded by production crews. No pandering. I want to spend a week with Edna, drinking cocoa and learning how to survive in the wilderness.