navelgazer

Well, I wanted Ben to win, so am thrilled that he did win, even though if Ben hadn't been there Chrissy would have deservedly won. (Totally shallow, but dayum, Chrissy cleans up good.) I was surprised at how badly Devon did at that fire challenge. I mean, they showed him making fire at camp early in the first hour, so it's not like he hadn't done it before or didn't know how to do it. On the possible producer manipulation, I don't think it makes any sense for them to do anything like that. I mean, it would be like what happened with the 1919 "Say it ain't so, Joe" Chicago White Sox. The Survivor producers would be knowingly murdering their own money-making franchise. Who would realistically watch if they thought the outcome was predetermined? Such a scheme just doesn't have a great cost/benefit ratio.

'67 actually. I only remember b/c she's three years younger than me, not six. Doesn't make much difference either way since she'd only be five in 1972.

For me it's Helena Bonham Carter. I just can't stand her. There's misogyny in the amount of plastic surgery the leads seem to have had in order to stay in front of the camera.

James McAvoy, especially in Wanted. The second kiss between him and Angelina Jolie was one for the ages AFAIC.

I was so impressed by Ady Barkan, the guy with ALS who got in the faces of Susan Collins and Jeff Flake and told them point blank that if they vote for "tax reform," they're voting to kill him and people like him. Ady apologized to Chris for filibustering the segment, but Chris was like talk as long as you want, you've earned it. http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/activist-with-als-kill-the-gop-tax-bill-save-my-life-1117030467918

Haggard Eppur Si Muove Magnificent combination of Celtic/folk metal, death metal, and symphonic metal. I'm in heaven here.

I guess they need Peggy Noonan to replace Mika since they both run around in the morning with nips of Grey Goose (Mika) or an IV drip for Peggy to get them through dealing with Joe.

I can't stand either one of the Mara sisters. Kate didn't cut it in House of Cards, replacing Susannah Harker in the role of Mattie Storin, and Rooney was a pale imitation of Noomi Rapace's Swedish Lisbeth Salander in the American remake of the first Millennium movie.

I think Mike and Ryan are both goats without a prayer in hell of winning this thing. The only way Devon wins is if he takes Mike and Ryan with him. Chrissy wins against everyone except for Ben. Ben beats everybody left. My perfect F3 from the beginning was Chrissy, Lauren, and Ben, even though I thought Ben would win in that situation. I like both Chrissy and Ben. I think they're both players with their own set of workable skills that brought them both far in this game through those different means, Ben being an idol-finder and Chrissy being a challenge beast. They were both good at reading the lay of the land and making the necessary adjustments to stay ahead of whatever they saw coming. I want to be happy about a Survivor winner, especially after Adam and Michele.

Julia Ioffe of the Atlantic was on briefly to talk about her article in the Jan/Feb 18 issue, What Putin Really Wants. The panel asked her some really open-ended, leading questions, but they didn't seem prepared for her answers, that Putin isn't a master manipulator but a scared figurehead who's just trying anything he can to stay in power. Ioffe seemed to stumble in her answers, too. Maybe everybody had Monday-morning-itis? Anyway, I've skimmed the article and it seems worth a read.

Grammar Nazi peeve -- a national news channel crawl using "capital" when referring to Twitler's announcement about Jerusalem. No, dummies. It's capitol. Capital is about money. How hard is that?

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article187536608.html

I'm almost disappointed that the alliance didn't use Mike and Joe again to get the five votes they needed to take Ben out. Ashley was absolutely right when she said that if Ben gets to the end, he'll win the game. "Heck, I'd even vote for him." Chrissy's joy at winning the IC was pure and contagious. And I felt sorry for her and Ryan and Mike for missing out on all of the yummy rewards. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, Mike.

I thought I heard someone on the crew laugh-out-loud when Malcolm Nance was talking about Jared talking about "do you think they'll get the president" in the Mueller inquiry and then he (Nance) went on to say "having done a, you know, a sh -- you know, a boat load of wire-tapping in my time..." I laughed, too.

Isn't Game of Thrones in the same genre as this show, medieval fantasy? One might be more epic than the other, but they both have swords, horses, and magic.

I finally noticed that these different places either have transporter systems or are connected by wormholes or some such because everybody seemed to get where they were going instantly (except when there was an aerial shot of horses running along a beach).

Where was Lena at the end? I thought she wanted to take that shot, not let Hector do it for her. I wasn't amused or entertained by the end-of-show firework fake-out or the "cheap shot (ha ha)." When I look at Hector/Rhys Ifans now, I'm starting to see Damien Lewis's Brody from early Homeland seasons. They're both flawed antiheroes, sort of bad guys that I can still root for. I liked Rhys as Sherlock's brother Mycroft in the series Elementary, too. On the shallow side, they need to de-scruff Daniel. The more facial hair they put on him, the more I see the Dwarf Prince Thorin Oakenshield from the Hobbit movies. I always marveled at how handsome Thorin was and wondered how tall the actor was IRL. The scruff takes me out of even the few Daniel scenes we're getting now.

The Axios/Vandehei piece isn't worth clicking on. It has no more detail than what he said on the show. And what he said on the show was more of false equivalence, both sides do it, a pox on both of their houses. He started with Gingrich back in '96, then he conveniently omitted when the Republicans stole the 2000 election, called the majority of voters who voted for Gore "Sore Losermen," then repeated the mantra for us to move on and get over it. They didn't care about the intent of the voter. All they cared about was their side won. "Libtards are evul, they kill teh babeez, amirite?"

I was a little shocked when Bandon broke the Sword of Shannara. And, yeah, of course Bandon got away with his prize. I'm liking how they're bringing out Jax's backstory in little dribs and drabs and that now he's going to be a major player in the show.

BBC America is airing "Conundrum," the ep where Ro and Riker "do what [they've] always wanted to do."

I wish all of the Homeland people would find this show. It's everything that Homeland used to be/should be but just isn't anymore. Loved BB's line "I'd be hanging you out the window. By your balls."

I was getting so sick and tired of The Virgin, I was glad it was her that left and not Chrissy. As a middle-aged woman, I like having someone in my age group to root for (who isn't totally cray like dear old Debbie). I could go with a threesome of Ben, Lauren, and Chrissy to the end of this thing, except if that happened I think Ben would win in a landslide.

I hope that this episode of "On Assignment" is Richard Engel's Emmy reel.

That car crash in Montana was brutal. I'm looking forward to a binge re-watch once all of the eps are out. I miss too much in the first viewing where I'm left scratching my head thinking why did he/she do that?

I won't watch Carter Page's treacly, smirky act. He's such a fake, phony liar. CH needs to just stop with bringing these Russia-bot halfwits on this show. Enough already.