Sesquipedalia

I thought Sam Bee was one of the gutsiest correspondents on the Daily Show, so I have high hopes for this show. The first episode was razor sharp. She is so harsh! And I love it.

I was fine with how Noah was doing--it's a pleasant ten minutes or so (I don't watch the interviews) of my day four days a week--but then I just watched the clips from Monday's Full Frontal premier on YouTube. OMG, Sam Bee is so much better at political commentary. She's so hard-hitting. Why wasn't she made the new host of the Daily Show?

I know it was supposed to be a critique of the system, but what scares me about Jordan Klepper's Iowa piece, is that the logic of why third is good and first is bad totally made sense to me. I obviously read way too much political news/analysis. The Black History Month segment was more informative than funny, and I agree the statement that Lincoln had no jurisdiction was a really weird thing to say.

Actually, Hillary did not declare victory in her speech. She said she was "relieved" and overall put a positive spin on the results. That's not the same as declaring victory. She never said anything about "winning." Rachel often does this thing where she willfully misreads what people have said. Usually I just let it slide because we're on the same side and the person she's clearly misinterpreting is a Republican, but after last night, I'm taking a break from TRMS and MSNBC for a good long while.

I just listened to the podcast of the Flint town hall, and I have to say I got really choked up.

I get your point about the basic structure of the film being flawed, but I still loved it. And it certainly made a lot more sense than Mad Max Fury Road.

Yeah, I actually did that search before posting in case I had missed something, but I found the coverage rather scant. I guess I should have asked why they aren't covering it well.

The Flint story is shocking on so many levels. Why aren't the NY Times and other major media outlets doing in-depth stories on this and the breach of democracy behind it? If it weren't for TRMS, I'd know next to nothing about it.

Thank you! The balls v. pussy concept is one of the most purely sexist dichotomies in the English language, because there is exactly zero correspondence to the actual organs. For example, I just started doing martial arts in a new dojo with mostly men, although I came of age in an all women's dojo in the 2000s. So imagine my amazement when the sensei says put on sparring gear, and all the guys emerge in these big plastic diapers! It cracks my shit up every time, as I walk out in my shin guards. See also: https://youtu.be/D_kt7Q6jmqM?t=1m21s (Unsurprisingly, the real, unedited version is not on YouTube.)

What I don't get is why Cruz's campaign put all that footage out there unedited. How hard is it to edit out the kid saying he can't think of anything nice to say about his uncle, for example, or the part where Cruz is told to hug his mom again? I mean they can't prevent people from manipulating the videos for hilarious ends, a la McConnelling, but this stuff didn't need to be manipulated.

Xena is and always will be my all-time favorite show. But looking back on the episodes, there were soooo many stinkers. One early one I haven't seen mentioned is Ulysses. I also really hated Lyre Lyre and most of the episodes involving Eve. But I have to agree with those who brought up Lifeblood as the worst. Except for FIN. To me FIN was the absolute worst. For years after I couldn't even be friends with anyone who liked the ending, and I will never stop being bitter about it. Most of the bad episodes are quite forgettable--honestly I had forgotten all about Lifeblood until I read this thread--but FIN will be seared into my memory forever and will always taint my beloved Xena.

My favorites are: Sins of the Past Hooves & Harlots The Greater Good Callisto Is There a Doctor in the House? The Quest A Necessary Evil A Day in the Life Been There, Done That The Debt Parts 1 & 2 Maternal Instincts The Bitter Suite One against an Army Sacrifice Part 2 Adventures in the Sin Trade Part 1 A Family Affair Crusader The Ides of March I don't really have any favorites from Seasons 5-6. For me the show started to lose its way with the India episodes in Season 4, and by moment when Xena's chakram changed to a yin/yang thingy, I knew it was downhill from there. It did make a bit of a comeback in Season 6 with several solid episodes, but I don't think I can call any of them my favorites. Even though I'm a huge Xena/Gabrielle shipper--like I have never been as obsessed with anything in my life as I was with the subtext--The Debt two-parter is my all-time favorite. Lao Ma was such a wonderful character. I'm so glad they never brought her back later and ruined her. I have watched the scenes between her and Xena dozens and dozens of times.

Season 1 is the only one I bought on DVD, so obviously it's my favorite. But since I'm too lazy to watch DVDs anymore, I hadn't seen this show since the final season aired, until last night when I discovered it online and watched the miniseries and 33. What I still love about it is the way it explores the questions John Potts poses above about a society trying to maintain its values in the face of near annihilation. If Roslin hadn't been a strong leader, it would have immediately devolved into a military dictatorship. (And given Adama's original impulse to go down fighting, the human race probably wouldn't have survived at all if governed from a purely military mindset.) My biggest frustration with the show was how Roslin evolved into more of a mystical/religious leader and the questions of the military/civilian balance were basically abandoned

Based on the fact that a lot of other people were giving the couple huge eye rolls, along with the speech from the commercial actor guy at the end of the episode, I got the sense we were supposed to see Dev's response to the wedding vows as somewhat deluded and overly idealistic.

I also thought the focus on the elders was a highlight of the show. I would love to see Dev visit Rachel's grandma and bring her pasta once he gets back from Italy. I'm guessing that Season 2, assuming it happens, will have him back in NY trying his hand as a chef. Given the name of the series and the fact that Dev is a struggling actor, I was expecting him to have lots of odd jobs, but maybe the title will come into play more in subsequent seasons as he tries out several different professions and possibly different love interests in his journey to find himself.

Even before the conversation devolved into hair talk, I couldn't believe Maddow showed the men pictures of their early activism and then showed Clinton her wedding picture. WTF was she thinking? Clinton handled it well by pointing out she was already a lawyer and children's advocate at the time, but I couldn't believe that Rachel Maddow of all people would approach the question so differently for the male and female candidates.

I thought the "shouting" comments--both Sanders' and Clinton's--were pretty innocuous and are getting blown way out of proportion, including by Martin O'Malley tonight on the show. By criticizing the other candidates for bickering, he was also bickering! But otherwise, his interview was pretty impressive.

I think she has done a good enough job of appearing impartial that I'm not sure which Democrat she supports. I agree that she asks Sanders softball questions, but she has been fan girling pretty hard over Clinton as well. The impression I get is that she's just happy to have such a strong (though small) field of Democratic candidates. Clinton has more baggage than Louis Vitton, but she has swung way to the left and is killing it lately. Sanders seems like a long shot, but how can any progressive not have a soft spot for him? There's zero chance I will vote for him in the primary, but I went to one of his rallies because . . . Bernie Sanders! I think Rachel is smart to play it close to the vest so she won't have to backtrack once the primary is over and the general campaign begins. That would have been a better "warm-up" question than the one about Biden. That was a weird question, because what was Clinton going to say? She's not going to whine about how hard running for president is like Rand Paul et al. because that's just not how she rolls, and she certainly can't say she's jealous of someone who just, um, lost his son. So yeah, some other lighthearted question would have been a better icebreaker.

Jim Webb's answer to the question in the debate last night about which person he's proudest to have made an enemy of was so Danny Chung.

I'm catching up on this season via hulu, so it's all been there done that, but I just want to say how much I love Megz and what she brought to the show, especially in this episode's dance with Hailee. Ever since Season 1, I have been bitching about the gender conformity on the show. Why do the couples have to be male/female? Why do all the girls have to be so femmy, and why do the guys have to disguise their sexuality? Why are heterosexual love relationships the only ones worth dancing about? What about brothers, sisters, friends, *gasp* same-sex couples? Well, I have to say that the show has come a long way in that department. It was a gradual thing. There was Travis's rise through the ranks. There was Sasha. There was trailblazing choreography along the way. But Megz is the first true gender nonconformist. And the Megz /Hailee dance was a great moment--a moment when a dance between two women was nothing to comment on specifically. It was just a dance between two dancers. I love that. Even though Megz didn't win, I feel like she made a big mark.

I'm watching this for the first time, and I'm down to the final episode. It's going to be anticlimactic because after all these years, I'm long-since spoiled about the winner. I was also spoiled that Chris didn't make it to fashion week and was therefore extremely bummed when he also lost out on the fan favorite prize, especially after everyone made such a big deal about how he would win. He was obviously the favorite of the other designers. I thought his designs were very original and should have earned him a spot in the finale. In my opinion, using human hair is much more ethical than using animal fur, so I thought that aspect was cool. One thing I loved about this season was how well everyone got along. It seemed to be more about the fashion than the interpersonal drama, and I enjoyed that.

I'm watching this on hulu, and I know the winner has long since been chosen, but I just have to say that "Fixin to Get Loose" is one of my favorite routines ever on the show. The top 4 street dancers is such a cool and eclectic group of dancers. I love them!

Season 3 produced my favorite and least favorite designers of all the Project Runway seasons I've seen. My favorite is Laura. She's so gorgeous. I love her attitude and style. She's the only PR contestant whose clothes I'd actually wear. She is extremely confident, yet vulnerable and not egotistical. I LOVE her and her work. I also love how Laura gets pissed off when she feels other women are being treated unfairly. Allison being aufed was blatantly sexist. They straight up told her that they expected more of her because she’s a woman. I think that's why Laura felt so strongly against Vincent's outfit, which his model literally could not walk in. Jeffrey is my most hated designer. He's not mean and entertaining like Santino and some others. He's just mean and ... a jerk. If I knew him in real life, I'd stay as far away from him as possible. Vincent is creepy but not nearly as bad as I'd been led to expect. Yes, he's obviously cray cray, but we don't really find the extent of it until the reunion episode. Once I saw the laundry video, Laura's assessment of his mental state made a lot more sense.

Daniel Franco seemed very paternalistic toward women, but this was the only time he struck me as truly creepy. I also never could get over how much he looks like kd lang.

The finale would have been so much more interesting if Austin had been in it. Wendy's collection was okay but not very entertaining or special. Plus, she should have been out when she made a bathing suit with no bottoms. To me sending a model down the runway with her own underwear as the only thing covering her ass is a dealbreaker. I just watched Season 1 for the first time, and ITA with what everyone has said about its charms. It is just so zany and weird. So many things that happen would be unthinkable in the current, sanitized version of the show.