kittykat

I guffawed so hard at the Eric impression. Stephen said everything so perfectly although I found myself wishing Trevor Noah and John Oliver weren't on hiatus. I was annoyed at Klobuchar (as well as Kinzinger) side stepping the question of holding certain Senators accountable but I know she was also shaken. Oh to be a fly on that wall in the room of fighting Senators. In all fairness at least Cruz and Hawley need their asses thrown out.

Ugh. 2020 gotta 2020. MF Doom died on October 31. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.www.complex.com/music/2020/12/mf-doom-dead-49

Airplanes are the biggest variable going between "safe" countries. Even if they stuck to spoon fed flights they can't control who is on the plane with them. It's sad the last season was kind of a bust because we're not getting this for a while.

Sigh I knew the writing was on the wall for Hermine but it was a fair decision. As far as week only vs. Cumulative judging goes I have always been an advocate of taking past performance into consideration on shows like Top Chef or Project Runway because there was a pathetic amount of times someone better went home for one bad project/dish over the perpetual "second worst" person. On this show, I don't know. Maybe it's because it is only 10 weeks over the 13-15 the other ones have. They had a similar quandary in S8 when Steven and Stacey turned in underwhelming showstoppers and while technically Steven had the worse performance they kept him over Stacey (who was very erratic) due to the fact he had 3 SB wins in the past so when it's really really close they do go back. I don't see Laura as skating by. She had one thing on her showstopper go wrong which ended up affecting presentation but her flavors were great per usual. Hermines was a disaster all around I pretty much knew she was toast when she said she hadn't practiced her new recipe. Sadly on the day she was supposed to excel, she tanked. And of course the internet does what the internet does and harasses poor Laura, she does not deserve that. I agree if she's going to win the final she's going to have to add a little style to her substance, like an anti-Frances. That said the editing was predictable and heavy handed. It's HERMINE'S WEEK! Will she prevail? Can PETER have a comeback to the early glory days. It was all obviously telegraphed. And I'm going to give a long suffering MEH to those challenges. Saverins are classic I'll give them that but that idiotic technical!? I miss the days of Les Miserables slices or Fraisier cakes, THAT'S PATISSERIE! Not that cornucopia shit, not patisserie. I can't believe I'm saying this but Prue should have set the technical this week. And the cube cake seems, I'm sorry, made up. Like they thought it was too simple for them to do decorated mini cakes no it had to be a cube cake. I look forward to beautiful cakes or french pastries but nothing struck me as actual patisserie this week; it seems more mostly contrived what they think is hip challenges. Don't get me wrong I'm fine with all the finalists and will be happy for the winner ( hoping for Peter ) but this season definitely feels off. Not because of Covid but I think it's the lackluster and badly planned challenges.

Fuck 2020 was beautiful. Not "Eat shit Bob!" Beautiful but I'll take it. And of course Adam Driver had to show up at one point he just had to. Sad this season is over. With Covid spiking and the shit show of the transition and the not conceding I could use John's guiding voice bit understandably he needs a break.

Welp that happened. I'm all for a cheesecake signature but it was pretty much downhill with that technical. They had 2 1/2 hours. Why not just give them 3 or 3 1/4. The creme anglaise was easy but it was definitely a time thing. I'm guessing no one's steamed more than an hour maybe hour and a half and prue said it needed at least two. Badly thought out technical although I always get squicked out when they use suet. I'm not a huge fan of jelly but I'm glad mostly everyone got theirs right. Laura seemed paved for Star Baker until Hermine nailed it, kind of the reverse of what happened on Pastry that flower was absolutely gorgeous. And she made it to pattiserie week, Yay! I felt for Peter since he was definitely in the bottom on his own but once Marc bombed the showstopper there was no question especially when they said Peter had good flavors. At this point I too have no idea who is getting left behind. Laura always seems to redeem herself at showstopper. By all counts I'd say Dave is the weakest link, which probably means he'll nail it.

Briefly saw the We Got Him in the opening slot, but I figured the Saturday filming probably was the cause of no Trebek. Probably next week, hopefully an "And Now..." segment. Agree with everyone, felt so good to watch. I'm with John on the process of having so much to do and wondering what happens now but its just SO RELIEVING! I'm glad Stacey Abrams and the Clark County registrar got their moments. Heroes.

Booooooo! After one exhilarating day it's back to reality. I know he was on borrowed time but it still hurts.

It is definitely a more level playing field. I'm pretty sure this is the first time in GBBO history that seven different people have won SB. I think it keeps it exciting, everyone has had a chance to shine.

I needed Bake therapy more than ever considering I've been gritting my teeth for four days waiting for a certain OTHER result to happen! HERMINE! Finally my fave gets the win and much deserved. One of those showstoppers where keeping it simple but elegant ended up being the way to go. On another note Marc also had a great week, seems like he's on an upswing again. Sigh Lottie, I figured when none of the flavors worked out she was toast especially when they said Laura and Dave had good flavors. I'm really going to miss her but then I'm at the point where I'll miss all of them. The challenges, figured they had to have a quiche involved. Liked the finger doughnuts, that's my idea of a technical, a simple idea going so right or so wrong. And the ice cream cake was a good showstopper that kept to theme and not too complicated in brief. Per bake off rules of course it happens when it's hot but at least a Bingate was avoided. And Matt you are so so so wrong music did not dip in the late 80s, there was good stuff in that period.

I was really looking forward to this week and it did not disappoint. Enjoyed all three challenges. Interesting how no one aced the steamed buns but no one totally screwed it up. I did like the battle of the burger buns and even more funny to watch Paul squeam over gherkins. Interesting crepe cake technical, it actually looked pretty good bit I'm a little astounded that people didn't know what a crescent was. Kawaii! Congratulations to Lottie for a well earned Star Baker but gutted for Mark. It was no surprise after the inedible cake but he had such a warm presence. Overall I enjoyed the theme of this week. Next week on the other hand is ummm...gonna be interesting.

Exactly this. Plus I hate being reminded that Jim Cramer is still a thing. One more week. Between this story and Barrett's confirmation my anxiety level is up tenfold. Berta's story seriously made me cry. All because she wouldn't let her TWELVE year old granddaughter be sold into marriage. And no follow up on where the granddaughter is. And yes Hunter Biden is Emails 2.0. SMH

Gotta love Paul giving Marc crap about not telling him the amount of crimps then being all " it's 20...or maybe 21." Not your best save there dude.

Overall a very entertaining pastry week. Absolutely no surprise Linda went home, all three challenges were pretty much a disaster. Marc L almost broke curse of the Star Baker until he pantsed the showstopper. The challenges: loved the pasty one, it’s always nice to see everyone do well to mostly ok, which is what happened. The Eclairs technical was a classic Prue “take a simple idea and decorate it to hell.” The salted caramel ones looked scrummy. As for the showstopper, yeah it seems like a lot of kitsch. Kind of like the chocolate dome challenge from S9. With the exception of Marc and Linda at least they all did well. I want to be happy for Laura winning Star Baker because I do like her but Hermine was robbed. She did great straight across the board (2nd in technical when Laura was 6th). It’s not really her fault that Paul destroyed her cage. I wish I could see more of how they landed on Laura. It seemed along the lines of “she’s improved so much” whereas Hermine has been consistently good but in the always a bridesmaid category. I don’t know. Good episode overall. I will be trying pasties here soon, yum yum. I did notice that most used puff or some form of flaky dough, I always assumed pasties were hot water crust but I suppose any of those work.

Another one Chet "JR" White of indie band Girls dead at 40. https://uproxx.com/indie/chet-jr-white-girls-dead-40/