ombelico
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Posts posted by ombelico
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On 4/13/2020 at 10:34 AM, Vivigirl10 said:
Because the fact that Mia, with her 8th grade level collage skills, is the brightest artist ever seen by her professor is completely unbelievable.
Mia's art being rather mediocre helps reinforce that her professor's interest in her was unprofessional and predatory, and not about Mia's artistic talent.
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The actress they got to play Young Princess Elizabeth has such a striking resemblance to Claire Foy I kept being taken aback and thinking it was her. Amazing casting.
Lesley Manville was exceptional here. I have absolutely no problem with Margaret getting her own episode particularly since she's been central to the show since season 1, and truly was the only person besides the Queen Mother who was with Elizabeth through everything.
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Gymnastics
in Sports
Nastia has commentated at Classic in the past (I attended in person one year and she was definitely there in the commentary booth), but NBC appears to be increasing its pool of commentators, particularly bringing in those with experience commentating on NCAA. IMO this is a good thing - overall I don't think Nastia's a very good commentator, and I've always felt there's an awkward conflict of interest with her father still being a prominent coach of active athletes. Sam Peszek has potential (you can see the media training she got in her studies at UCLA), but she also has a strong tendency to talk too much during the routines and inject herself and her experience into the commentary. I also think John Roethlisberger (or Bart Conner) should replace Tim Daggett. Tim's schtick ("Gymnastics 101" etc.) has worn thin and after 30+ years it's time for someone else to take over.
The main thing, though, is NBC needs to get over their obsession with showing gymnasts on the sidelines, chalking up, getting drinks of water, talking to the coaches, instead of showing actual gymnastics. It creates these interminable lulls in the action, when there's exciting stuff going on in the background that the audience doesn't see.
I'm not a huge golf fan but I watched the coverage of the British Open a few weeks ago, and I was struck by how they immediately moved from one golfer to another so there was no break in the action - it was almost addictive since they kept showing shot after shot. They didn't just follow Rory McIlroy around while he was walking from hole to hole, getting drinks of water, and talking with his caddy, but if he were a gymnast that's exactly the type of coverage NBC would do.
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On 6/26/2023 at 10:32 AM, peeayebee said:
I like Claire, and I like her with Carmy, but I was kind of pissed off at how she was distracting him from his duties. I know she didn't do it intentionally, and his attention to her was completely understandable, esp since he had no real joy in his life. And this was his first girlfriend! Again, it's understandable that he would often be more focused on her than some other things in the restaurant.
I hope Claire is not completely out of his life. He needs happiness in his life.
Carmy being trapped in the cooler was a great move for the show to take. I certainly felt bad for him and wanted him to get out, but we got to see that they didn't even need him for their opening. Everyone rose to the occasion. As we saw in previous eps, everyone else had grown and improved and found happiness in their endeavors.
I don't think this is the end for Claire and Carmy. Of course she was hurt by what he said while in the freezer but given that she also works in a high-pressure field that requires long days and periods of intense focus, I think with a bit of time she would realize that Carmy was working out the pressure of one of the most intense evenings of his career, and dealing with issues that aren't really about her.
On 6/26/2023 at 12:52 PM, peeayebee said:Well, I have to say I didn't think Alex Moffat was a good choice. I was interested when we first see him in the interview. I always liked him on SNL. But when he simply ended up being a somewhat comical drug user, I was disappointed and annoyed. I think a less familiar actor should have been cast as this guy.
Agreed - when he first showed up my brain went, "Where is this guy from before? Oh yeah, SNL..." which took me out of the show and in the end he didn't even have any real dialogue beyond saying how crack/meth makes him focus or whatever.
I wonder if Donna's decision not to go into the restaurant shows that she's done some changing and growing since Mikey died.
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On 5/31/2023 at 1:24 PM, Karen885 said:
It will never stop being funny to me when Kendall refers to himself as "the eldest son". That isn't even true, Connor is the eldest son.
Even better, it wasn't "eldest son," but "eldest boy." Further reiterating how he's still that 7-year-old on his dad's lap being told he will get the keys to the kingdom.
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I have found Sr Monica Joan tiresome for a long time, and when she interrupted the wedding service (after arriving late) to announce how she was still going to do her reading or whatever, I just rolled my eyes so hard. I don't care how much affection Trixie has for her and the other nuns at Nonnatus, if that were my wedding I'd not have been best pleased.
That said, MJ's line about "rallying" right before entering the church was pretty amusing.
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Peacock is leaving the replays of Worlds up for 48 hours after each session, but a week would be even better. There are many, many reasons why someone might not be able to watch something within a specific 48-hour window. Really, NBC and their copyright lawyers need to get some spine and not back down in the face of frivolous music lawsuits.
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6 hours ago, PeterPirate said:
The basic problem is that it seems that nobody in the BRF, their staffs, or Harry and Meghan themselves, took responsibility to work out how someone like Meghan Markle (American, divorced, biracial, professionally successful) was going to be integrated into the British monarchy.
I've often wondered if anyone in the BRF thought to contact the American Embassy in London or the British Embassy in DC to find someone who could help tutor Meghan in the cultural differences between the UK and US. My guess is that this didn't happen, and Meghan's transition probably could have been made smoother by engaging professional diplomats who know a lot about both countries to help explain to her how things that seem normal or expected in the US would appear differently in Britain, both in terms of interacting with palace staff and appearing to the press/public.
Yes the US and UK have a lot of similarities and there are many Americans living and working in the UK, but none has as high a profile as she did, in as deeply British an institution as the royal family. She really was in a unique position as an American (let alone a biracial one) marrying into and joining the BRF as a working royal.
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I enjoy this show but I find some of the challenges to be uneven and smacking of producer manipulation. For example, in the S2 episode with the old recipes that the bakers had to remake, some sounded not that bad and others sounded revolting. But then what made it worse was that each team was specifically assigned a particular recipe, so it wasn't random. It would have been more fair to have the teams pick the recipes out of a hat, or better yet, have them all remake the same old recipe.
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One aspect I found disappointing about the ending of the episode, which stops with Elizabeth in the carriage, is that there's no acknowledgement that in the end, the Silver Jubilee was a success. We got the discussion with Margaret where she talked about how apprehensive she was to be having a Jubilee, but then we don't get to see her receive the celebratory reassurance that the public appreciated her.
On 12/11/2019 at 8:12 AM, paramitch said:Am I crazy for thinking Elizabeth's little dangly-flowered hat was adorable? I loved it! It was whimsical and sweet.
I appreciate the attention to detail and ability of the costumers to provide clothes that are extremely close to what the Queen and others wore IRL, but sometimes, as with this hat, I think it backfired and emphasized why Olivia Colman (amazing as she is) was a bit miscast in the role (and/or was misdirected in her portrayal).
OC has one of those faces that easily appears much older, particularly with certain hair and makeup. Even though by the time of the end of the season (in 1977) Elizabeth was a few years older than OC was at the time of filming this season, OC's appearance this season has consistently appeared older than Elizabeth did in the same time frame. Therefore, when we see OC wearing this cute, whimsical hat, it just doesn't appear like something that Elizabeth-as-portrayed-by-OC would choose.
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Rewatched recently and my favorite part of the episode (in terms of comedy value) is when Charles is meeting with the professor and when trying to phonetically pronounce what the professor is saying, the professor says, "you have to glide into it" and Charles immediately says, "I'm trying to glide into it" with a little arm wave. Something about that just tickles my funny bone.
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8 hours ago, Roseanna said:
While there is of course nothing wrong to have divorced parents in itself, I doubt that many can relate with Meghan's dysfunctional family and in any case, it did her reputation much damage. Plus, just like Diana, she lacked the safety net Kate has.
But that is in no way Meghan's fault, or in and of itself an indication that Catherine is better suited for royal life than Meghan. It is just Meghan's misfortune that the paternal side of her family (except for her niece, who seems lovely) is such a trainwreck. It only "did her reputation much damage" because the tabloids saw an opportunity to use the extended family to drag her into the mud, and her father, half-sister, and others saw an opportunity to try to capitalize on their connections to her. I'm sure Catherine is very grateful for the family that she has. But Meghan not having that is not a character flaw, it's just an unfortunate fact of her life.
Frankly there are many, many people who can relate to and sympathize with the idea that if they became famous, various elements of their families would come out of the woodwork and do/say things that would be embarrassing, hurtful, and harmful.
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I wonder if the issue of what colors to wear comes down to over-generalizing from one major event, where perhaps Meghan was told, "the Queen (and Camilla, maybe Catherine) are planning to wear X, so try to wear something else," and she accidentally thought that this "rule" applied to all events.
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On 11/14/2022 at 2:06 AM, andromeda331 said:
No expected Edward VIII to abdicate making changing everything for Elizabeth, Margaret and their parents.
Given the way the family tree shaped up, Elizabeth would have eventually become queen anyway. Edward married Wallis when she was 41 and nothing in his or her history indicates a desire to have children (and of course, they didn't in the end). With Edward having no children, even if he hadn't abdicated the crown would have eventually passed to Bertie and then to Elizabeth, no matter what, it just would have ended up happening in the 1970s when Edward died instead of the 1950s.
On 11/16/2022 at 11:53 AM, BlackberryJam said:Imelda in the role seems to lack the humor and self-deprecation that Elizabeth had. She overplays the stiffness, and even in the scene where she gets the singing fish, Imelda doesn’t make that look like natural, comfortable laughter at the ridiculousness. Elizabeth was a prig, but she knew she was a prig.
One of the things I think the show has really missed throughout is Elizabeth's natural sense of humor. I never met her personally of course but there are ample descriptions from many different people, and video evidence, of her having a dry sense of humor and quick wit, with a twinkle in her eye.
On 11/13/2022 at 11:53 AM, dubbel zout said:What I found unfair about Philip's rather snotty "I read" comment was that Elizabeth spends her days reading all those government documents she's required to deal with. And I'm sure she's always prepping for the next day's engagements, which could mean more reading for background. Maybe at the end of the day playing with her dogs is more relaxing to her than reading about DNA. Shut up, Philip.
On 11/19/2022 at 12:36 PM, jeansheridan said:Apparently Morgan thinks Queen Elizabeth wasn't very bright but Imelda radiates intelligence. She's very present always.
Yes, this is another aspect where I think the characterization of Elizabeth in the show fails. No, she didn't get a traditional schooling and university education, but there's ample evidence out there that she had a natural intelligence and was well abreast of the issues of the day, and carefully read all of the documents in her red boxes. Perhaps her chosen hobbies of horses and dogs didn't seem all that intellectual, but everyone needs hobbies and activities that are just for fun and not for smarts. It's perfectly fair for her to not be all that interested in science and technology, and it doesn't make her any less intelligent than Philip just because he finds those topics interesting.
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On 11/14/2022 at 10:53 PM, qtpye said:
To me, Diana is coming off as awkward and strange. Though in all fairness, perhaps this is what she was at this time of her life. The actress does not have the "Diana Sparkle" or star power.
It's unfortunate for Elizabeth Debicki because there's not much she can do about it, but being a 6'3" woman just lends a general air of awkwardness. Diana was tall but not as unusually tall as Debicki.
On 11/19/2022 at 10:18 PM, Blakeston said:I was a teenager when the infamous transcripts were released, and all I knew about it was brief coverage in the news, and maybe some jokes from late night talk show hosts. I actually thought the content was significantly worse than it was.
Up until now I was under the impression that Charles was saying that he had a specific sexual fantasy about being her tampon - as opposed to him saying that he wanted to be inside her, and then joking with her about tampons.
Having an intimate private phone conversation leaked for the whole world to read is bad enough, but I appreciated that the show largely kept the conversation as it was in real life since it actually makes it clear that Charles didn't "wish to be Camilla's tampon" as is often the mischaracterization that continues to spread even today.
Overall I think Dominic West did a decent job portraying Charles. Perhaps he has a bit too much natural confidence and swagger but I think it works in portraying the contradiction of how Charles at this point in his life was a man in full, and in many other professions would have been at or approaching his peak time of productivity and authority. However, because of the nature of his role of Prince of Wales, he was continually waiting in the wings, which would naturally be frustrating. It's to his credit that he came up with the Prince's Trust as something that he could actively be involved with rather than just sitting around waiting for his mother to die so that his "real job" could begin.
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The thing that I found the most surprising about this episode was that Sydney Johnson worked for both the Duke of Windsor and Mohamed Al-Fayed. I had no idea about that before watching, and had to go check online to see whether it was actually true since it just seemed like such an amazing coincidence. I also had no idea that the Fayeds were involved with Chariots of Fire so that was an interesting surprise too.
On its own I thought it was a good piece of television, but on the other I was a little peeved that it took up 10% of the season. IMO Al-Fayed is extremely peripheral to the overall story of the royal family, which should be the focus of The Crown. If this had been an extra 11th episode, then fine, but I came away feeling that time that could have been spent on more relevant familial/political issues of the early '90s was used on this very minor character.
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Harry said there were 5 options "on the table" but IIRC it wasn't specified who laid out those options, or whether there was any agreement that all of them would be potentially feasible. If Harry was the one who laid out the possible options, then it's plausible that Charles and William said, "hold up, you're either in or you're out, because these "part-time" options you're describing just won't work, and here's why."
Another problem with the idea of them living in another country but still being working royals is that if H&M were to come back to the UK to perform functions as working royals, as they were proposing, then there's the whole extra expense of flying them back and forth to consider as well. That would not have provided good optics either, as the British public would rightly ask why they are helping to finance these trips when H&M could have just stayed in the UK. H&M wanted to move to New Zealand, South Africa, or Canada because they thought it would make their lives easier (and I think they simply just romanticized the idea of living far away from London), but it would have made many things more complicated for the BRF, and IMO they didn't want to hear why.
The mention of Peter Phillips is a good one. I think Harry wanted what his cousins have, but was too thick-headed to understand why it wouldn't work for him, because he is (or was, before leaving for the US) in a very different position.
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I think the issue regarding knowledge of bulimia and eating disorders is not so much about whether the general public understood what they were in the '80s and early '90s (I agree with the posters upthread that eating disorders were commonly talked about at this time, especially in the wake of Karen Carpenter's death), but rather whether the Royal Family itself (importantly the Queen, Philip, and Charles) did. Diana's lament in the Morton book was that the RF didn't see the bulimia as a sign that things were wrong with the marriage, but rather thought that the marriage was failing because of Diana's bulimia and other mental health issues.
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Harry and Meghan seem overall like good-hearted people but also very naive and a bit unwilling/unable to acknowledge why their ideal life to be part-time royals just wasn't feasible. My impression is that H&M are sincere in what they describe as their version of events. But at the same time there are lots of factors that they seem either ignorant of or unwilling to fully comprehend. It's understandable that Meghan would have had a large culture shock not only marrying into the BRF but in moving to Britain in general, but instead of really helping to prepare her, Harry saw it as, "she's this amazing breath of fresh air so everything she says must be correct."
I agree with the posters upthread who said a big missing puzzle piece is a better understanding of what the lines in the sand were for Charles/William when H&M were proposing their "part-time" royal scenario. At this point, I get the impression that H&M (but mostly Harry) can't comprehend various problems with the scenarios that they wanted. They can't just go live in another country where neither of them is a citizen without immigration or residency implications, even if those countries are part of the Commonwealth. When Meghan previously lived in Canada, she undoubtedly had a work visa allowing her to live there since she was working on Suits. But now, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, or anywhere else would have to give permission for them to live there, and each would have very good reasons to say no. Also, covering security for them in any of these places would cost more than if they just stayed at Frogmore in Windsor, which already has royal protection, so monetarily it didn't make sense either.
Harry says that William was yelling at him in the "Sandringham summit" but of course we don't know how far William was pushed to get to that point. It's easy to imagine Harry just being a bit thick-headed and stubborn about the whole thing, and William finally reaching the end of his tether with him. Harry says that Charles said "things that weren't true," but doesn't say what those things were. I can believe Harry sincerely thought those things weren't true, but it's also possible that they actually were and Harry just didn't understand why, particularly if they involved certain financial and legal logistics and intricacies.
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Gymnastics
in Sports
Kuliak has the most smackable face. Smug childish jackass.
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Thanks for that info Rootbeer, especially the tidbit that this band has done the same thing in other venues. What a swell group of guys.
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Somehow I doubt that NBC taking down the figure skating content from Peacock is only about music rights. For one thing, is there even any evidence that Knierim/Frazier didn't get the proper approval to use the music? They're both veterans, and so are their coaches - there's no way they don't know the procedures for getting music approval. Second, this lawsuit is going to be laughed right out of court. It's a freaking COVER of a song that's been around for decades, and the exposure of being used for a figure skating program is a net benefit to the band. It wasn't being used in a derogatory or negative fashion in any way. It was also used by this team prior to the Olympics, but oh look, the group only sues while the Olympics are on? This is just clearly a publicity stunt by this band who I bet most people only heard of for the first time because of Knierim/Frazier's program!
Of course I don't really know what shenanigans are going on to explain why NBC pulled the skating content from Peacock so soon after the Olympics finished, but I don't think it's just about this music lawsuit.
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11 minutes ago, choclatechip45 said:
People forget though that the reason why the US gymnastics team didn't have anyone under 18 was because of the pandemic. Suni would have been 17 and would have most likely made the team in 2020. Grace also would have been 17 if the Olympics would have been held when they were suppose too.
I know - but on the flip side, there were athletes who suddenly became age-eligible with the delay, like Konnor McClain, and none of them came close to making the team. Also if the games had been held in 2020 there's a good chance Morgan Hurd would have been on the team at 19 years old. The youngest alternate was Kayla DiCello, at 17. The point is just that gymnastics no longer has the "expiration date" at 15 or 16 years old that it used to, and IMO a lot of that has to do with the change in scoring that now gave value to having muscular power that prepubescent girls don't have.
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19 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:
One way I think skating went in the wrong direction was when they settled on the new scoring system. I agree that the 6.0 system needed an update but they went way too far away from it. It reminds me of the scoring overhaul in gymnastics (which occurred two years later so I'm not claiming it was the inspiration) but that sport has 4-6 disciplines where there can be any number of combinations out of hundreds of moves to choose from. Even the vault, where gymnasts are most limited in what they can do, has multiple options. With skating they're limited in the available moves they can use and the scoring should reflect that reality.
With the move to open-ended scoring in gymnastics, the increased importance of the difficulty level of elements meant that there was now more value in being a muscular, powerful gymnast (Simone Biles being the primary example). The U.S. women's gymnastics team at last year's Olympics had no one under 18. In 2016, Laurie Hernandez was the only member of the team who was not yet 18.
In figure skating, however, the difficulty level in the scoring is primarily derived from how many revolutions you can do in the air - this is an aspect that favors someone to be as small and narrow as possible. Unless the ISU wants to keep seeing 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old girls run through the wringer and discarded when they start growing boobs and hips, they need to adjust the scoring to give more weight to other aspects besides how many times someone can spin around in the air before touching the ice again. Also, puberty blockers should be added to the WADA code and tested for to discourage their harmful use.
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S31.E00: New Year's Eve Special
in The Graham Norton Show
Emma Stone's dress was not well-suited to the venue, and seemed to lead her to position herself almost entirely with her back towards Graham, which was awkward.