CeeBeeGee

It was horrible. I struggled not to scream. DON'T LEAVE OUT BIRDSEED FOR PIGEONS. You're attracting much less savory creatures as well.

In retrospect it's a little shocking that Henry, of all people, couldn't wrap his brain around the idea of a political marriage being useful, whether or not they found each other attractive. He made his younger sister marry the elderly King of France, after all and he certainly knew his marriage to Anne was arranged for political purposes. His sense of state craft (I'm sure there's a better phrase I could use) is less than impressive. Established aristocrats have always been threatened by so-called New Men--men who had risen to power on their own abilities and who had no or few family or political connections. Cicero was targeted for the same reasons. The trajectory of her marriage to Henry was truly sad--they really did love each other at one time, and genuinely grieved for their lost babies. And she got to see the best of Henry, before the accident when his personality apparently changed. But I have to say, as much as I like Katherine (and yes, I think she didn't consummate the marriage with Arthur)--she was too politically savvy not to know he had to have a male heir. And she, out of how many pregnancies, only had the one living girl. Why could she not recognize the situation and go into a convent? He needed a son. She couldn't give him one. Out of love for him, she could've done that. Her stubbornness ruined the rest of her life.

Carrie's overdramatic screams when confronted with a squirrel are annoying af. (They were showing those episodes last week and I always want to yell at the TV screen "Don't they have squirrels in Central Park which you walk through all the time?") Rats are another thing entirely. I would've freaked as well. I was walking back to my apartment and was along W. 97th Street Saturday evening. There were a couple of trees where pigeons congregate because people throw out birdseed. Only it wasn't pigeons after dark--it was about 15-20 rats around the two trees, nibbling on birdseed. I was horrified. I hate rats. Not going to be watching but am here for the snark so keep me posted, ladies!

That dude drove me crazy. I was hissing at the laptop screen "Get away from her. Stop pestering her. LEAVE HER THE F*** ALONE." I could not stand him. Read the damn room, loser! Men who pester you for attention are the absolute worst. I was dismayed with how quickly the narrative--starting in the second episode--changed to "Katie was 'bullying' Jamie." IMO bullying is an incredibly overused word nowadays. Katie didn't persist in putting him down with the emojis--it was a one-time thing in response to his trying to pressure her into a date when he knew she was in a vulnerable position. He was enraged when she didn't fall for his manipulation. But bullying is a pattern--and the bully has power over the victim. Neither of those are true here. It reminds me of a Lifetime movie from the '90s starring Tori Spelling, Death of a Cheerleader. It was about a real-life crime, the stabbing murder of cheerleader Kirsten Costas by a "beta"-girl type, a hanger-on in Kirsten's group, Bernadette Protti. (The names were changed for the movie.) Before imdb eliminated comments, you would see a lot of commentary that "Stacy" (the cheerleader/Kirsten analogue) "deserved it" because she "bullied" Angela (the Bernadette analogue). In neither the movie nor from everything I've read in real life did Kirsten/Stacy bully the other girl. She avoided her, rolled her eyes sometimes, resisted her attempts at friendship. But that's not bullying.* You're allowed to not want to be someone's friend, just like you're allowed to turn a guy down for a date and mock them when they were clearly trying to manipulate you into a date. Bullying is a sustained campaign of harassment by someone in a position of power over a victim. Neither of those conditions really apply here. And I do think it's a shame that we hardly get to know Katie at all, whereas we spend enormous amounts of time crawling through Jamie's brain. I believe I've read somewhere that the show's creators thought that, as men, it was inappropriate for them to tell Katie's story, and they hoped some women creators would write a sequel. *If you've seen the movie, Stacy did bully the Goth girl. But not Angela, and Angela is the one who killed her. It's kind of disgusting that a real life murder victim is being blamed for her own murder.

He really did look tired, poor kid. I was at Worlds and he looked devastated during the exhibition--his skate was a tribute to the skaters who died in the plane crash, some of whom were from his area and whom he might've known.

It's been a long time since I was a substitute teacher but back in the '90s, when I was first hired, I said I would do elementary school and middle school but I wouldn't do high school. I was (frankly, still am) small and young-looking, I figured high school it would be impossible to impose authority, looking like that. The regular teachers told me, actually middle school is worse. They were right. The kids are all so trapped in their own smelly, erupting, unattractive bodies, all so miserable and hyper-aware of themselves and each other and their hormones are going crazy.* I remember (admittedly whoever scheduled me for this was an idiot) tiny me having to lead a shop class. It was all boys and they all towered over me. I wasn't afraid, I had no problem raising my voice but it took them forever to calm down once they thought they'd smelled blood. That said, no one said to me "Shut up, miss." I would've snatched them bald-headed if they had. I was shocked that teacher allowed it but I guess if you're there week after week, it grinds you down. *And part of me wonders if this isn't one reason they're doing the single-take approach--because it's claustrophobic the way middle school is claustrophobic, you can't escape with cuts and clever edits. You're just THERE for the hour.

After a rough SP, Amber absolutely laid it ALL down on the ice for the freeskate! She was incredible! What a skate--with a flawless 3A! So happy for and proud of her! Can someone tell me how Alysa (just barely) edged out Amber's freeskate? Is her triple-triple worth more than Amber's 3A? Because IIRC both skates were perfect. Try searching for "figure skating." The replays will only stay up for 72 hours so some of them may have already timed out but I was watching them yesterday and tonight. (I hate sounding like an ad but Peacock is worth the money just to get to watch all those skate competitions that don't get aired anywhere else. Ilia had an uncharacteristically rough freeskate--popped a couple of jumps and I don't think he threw the 4A. (He still won by quite a bit though.) This is my first time watching the WTT--it's fun! I loved seeing the team celebrate each other with their over the top antics.

Ew!!!! That's disgusting and so inappropriate. I have my issues with Eteri's brood but it's on their behalf--it is how they are treated, not anything they're doing. And they are children. Just ew. Sasha's cantilever is one of her elements that I actually liked. I've never seen anything like that (those kinds of comments) and I can imagine how upsetting it would be. The Yunabots are...a thing. I detested Sotnikova's home-cooked "victory" and absolutely thought Yuna was robbed (and Kostner) but smearing her as a whore is not the way to address the situation. That has nothing to do with why she "won." I remember that Alysa Liu, back when she was a wunderkind with quads and a 3A, getting absolutely slammed on social media by Russian fans (albeit, as far as I remember, not with any sexual commentary). But come on, people.

That was a typo, and it should be obvious--J and H are right next to each other on the keyboard. That said, I did notice the typo earlier and left it in because it was so ridiculous. I haven't seen any sexually aggressive comments about Eteri's brood although I agree if they're out there, that's disgusting. They're children (which is part of the problem). But I've been on record as blaming Eteri and not the skaters for this shitshow. [Redacted] instead of Jumping Beans was truly just a typo--and I thought an amusing one--but if you feel strongly about it, I will correct it, just let me know. Abbott slamming into the boards I am pretty sure was Sochi in 2014. A lot of the men ate ice at that competition, including Yuzuru. I remember posting to "Figure Skating Confessions" (?) on Tumblr about it, about how so many of the men fell, and getting a lot of angry Yuzuru-bot responses.

Soo, because apparently any Russian skater who ever had any status has been given their talking points (See also: Elena Radionova*), Anna Pogorilaya made some salty remarks about Worlds this year, about how Alysa Liu had URs and the judges were determined to award her anyway. So some wag posted a compilation video of all of Anna's "dramatic" falls and I can't stop laughing at it. My favorite is the second one where she eats the ice, gets up and then slams into the wall. And Johnny and Tara wondering out loud if she'd ever actually learned how to fall. "It's just a very dramatic way of falling..." *Elena was nasty about the content, saying the women were doing the same content 9 years ago at the last Boston Worlds. Honey, the only ones who were pushing the envelope were for the most part the ones who were drugged. We're glad that's gone from the sport. There are a few up and comers with quads but it's not a whole bevy of them and good, quality skating is being rewarded, not underfed jumping beans. And it makes me sad because I always liked Radionova. She always showed such joy in her skating--she had an ebulliance that I liked.

Actually IIRC, was Anna melting down? As I recall it, poor gold medalist Anna was sitting frozen in her seat wondering if anyone remembered her while Noodlehead berated Kamila. Until finally Kaori graciously hugged her and congratulated her like the class act that she is. Because of course Noodlehead didn't remember that's your effing job. UGH. The audience did--not--like--her. People were quietly booing under their breath. *Cough* including me *cough* Also, looking at Jason's performance in these most recent Worlds. He finished fourth on the free skate. Fourth, without a quad, because his component scores were that good. Imagine if he'd skated perfectly in the short (but still without a quad). He would've ended up 6 or 7th--if one or two people above him mess up in the LP, he has a shot at a medal. Sure, it depends on him skating both programs perfectly and someone above him really tanking--but isn't that was Andrew and, to a lesser degree, Yama, did?

Much like Bolero, you almost have to earn the right to skate to Hallelujah. I thought Kamila, as lovely a (doped) skater as she was, was far too young and frankly callow to skate to Bolero. It's a complex piece and you need to build it, piece by piece. Why saddle her with that warhorse? Give her something fun and light--her Wednesday program was adorable and very imaginative. Similarly Hallelujah--I thought Mariah did a lovely job because she feels like an old soul to me. But not everyone can take you on that journey.

It was a BLAST. One pairs team did this gender-swapped program--the guy dressed in a tutu and skated a bit to Swan Lake and the woman (who had on a padded muscle suit) actually carried him! And then they switched from Swan Lake to (I think) a song by Beyonce about it being a woman's world. The whole thing was a blast. Isabeau was adorable in her braids, skating to Fever. And Amber looked soooooo relaxed--she too was wearing (messy, adorable) braids and a sequined football jersey. Oh, and Niina Petrokina did a fantastic rendition of Cell Block Tango--I think I was the only person who recognized the song for at least a few blocks! He had it comin'/He had it comin'/He only had himself to bla-ame... I was so excited once I realized what Jason was about to skate. I taped a little of it then forced myself just to enjoy it. God, that man is a treasure. I think this spring I'm going to sign up for the really expensive SOI package so I can meet him :)

I'll recycle an old joke: Was Dune on sale or something? (I said the same thing about Bolero three years ago.) It is undeniably great music to skate to.

God, if we got Team gold next Games and Jason finally got his Olympic gold, I would be so happy, I would be crying ugly tears.