30 Helens

Definitely NOT a made-up condition. But it’s also not a Get-Out-of-Jackass-Jail-Free card. Not everyone with autism is abusive or has anger management issues. Not everyone who is abusive or has anger management issues is autistic. These are distinct conditions and should be regarded as such. And if Jonathan is using his diagnosis as an excuse to act badly, he is insulting all the people on the spectrum who manage their lives without resorting to childish behavior. The discussion on race start times made me remember something else that was bugging me about this episode. Despite lucking into a non-elimination leg, Han and Holden had no consequences for coming in last the week before. There was no delayed start time, and no extra task to accomplish. Has this ever happened before? Because it seems to me like there has always been some kind of penalty, and it seemed a little unfair to the other teams that there wasn’t.

Probably. Mostly because at this point, people seem to be looking for anything that might support the conspiracy theories. Not that Production would have known that at the time… I for one do not buy into the theories. Eva has been lucky, but there are a lot of people over the years who have lucked into multiple advantages. The show is highlighting Eva because they like her backstory. But they aren’t stupid and reckless enough to rig the game. Besides, they don’t need to hand Eva any advantages. The other players are doing that for them.

This is what I thought. I don’t recall anything that said the blocks had to be up there until the timer ran out, it was just there to show her time limitations. I’m sure an offscreen producer told her the stack was acceptable before she toppled it. And if they’re so worried about coconuts, why not just go gather more? I’m sure there were one or two more on that giant island. Are they really that lazy that they can’t forage for their own food? Or.. never mind, just answered my own question. Another thing that bugged me about last night is why was nobody even talking about booting Eva? She is a physical threat, just like Joe, and she’s the one with all the advantages. Blindside her now and they flush the idol and remove everything else. Leave those in place, and both Joe and Eva are practically guaranteed a final seat.

I don’t know what I hate more, Jonathan’s jackass behavior or Ana’s willingness to accept his criticisms as truth. I spent the entire episode hoping she would just pull to the side of the road, get out, and walk away. But instead she got to the mat and took responsibility for navigational errors?? No, Ana. Just no. No amount of money is worth that kind of abuse.

A different take on Mary: I think she may have sunk her chances by getting angry and deciding to “create a little chaos” when it didn’t seem like her plan was going to happen. (And what a person—Hantz—to choose as her inspiration. Ugh.) She had a bunch of people on the fence, knowing what they should do, but also looking for an excuse to delay it because of their omertà loyalty to Joe. By coming off as a little erratic at the end, she may have pushed them off the fence to the other side. That said, they’re still idiots and they’re all Dead To Me. Faces I wanted to slap most: 1. Eva, when Mary pointed out that she didn’t need to worry about food because she was a lock for reward dinner, could only nod and say “Fair.” Smug much? 2. David, standing up in a dramatic show of solidarity as Mary went to get her torch snuffed. I don’t know why he stopped short of giving her a full military salute.

I had no idea when the Grammys started, so FJ was a total guess. But when I tried to think of a band that would be that mainstream-popular in decades past, the Beatles came to mind first. I figured recent wins might have to do with re-issues or collections, so I went with it. Poor Michelle is going to be tortured by her parrot for years to come.

I tried to do a reverse license plate search, but all I could find is that plate belongs to a 2013 Nissan Altima. So if that was a recent champ, they didn’t spend their winnings on a new car.

Oh, Chatbot. 😔

Keegan likely would have had the win if not for that all-in DD wager on the Pledge of Allegiance. If only it had been about the lyrics to O Canada… Mentioning “gut” in the FJ clue somehow fixated my brain on that word. It took a lot of mental effort to clear away terms like “gut punch” and “gut instinct”, but fortunately I managed to do that and came up with viscera/ visceral in just the nick of time.

Oh, definitely. I have also found that if you do the same search twice but with slightly different wording, you may get two completely contradictory AI results. So I take the robot response with a huge grain of salt. As in, the size of the world’s biggest salt lick. Times two.

My approach to AI is just like any other internet source: Read what it says, then open a more trustworthy source (or two, or three) to verify. I find it useful in some situations, but relying on it alone is lazy, which is why most people will do that and misinformation will spread. But AI probably knew Haiti was the right answer, which is more than I knew, so who am I to judge.

I think the charger thing would be a godsend in a large household. Things like that always get moved and not put back, especially when teens are involved. Even if they have their own charger, they may misplace it and then it’s easier to just grab dad’s. Mark intimated that he is familiar with this situation, and I can see it. I also think hotels could be a great market for this— what a great convenience to provide for guests, without worry of it being stolen. The beverage refrigerator was very attractive, and it could be a great addition to a family room in a large upscale home. I would not be a customer for this because my home is too small (and not that fancy), but I can see why Lori liked it. I think she may be overestimating the market for it, though. As for the onion fan: Exactly. This is all I could think of during the presentation, and I was shocked that nobody pointed that out.

Count me among those who had no idea. Then again, I have no interest in yacht racing so I never really thought about it. Absolutely! There’s a reason they were such good friends.

Then you’re a better person than I, because that sounded very much like a backhanded compliment. And a way to compliment himself at the same time— he’s so smart he doesn’t even need to study! Then again, my dislike of Yogesh knows no bounds, so I’m not inclined to cut him any slack. Needless to say, I did not enjoy that first game. (It was also painful to see Brad struggle like that.) The second game was much more enjoyable. My trivia knowledge does not meet the level of a Masters tournament, so the only pleasure I get from these games is watching people I like do well. I like everyone who played the second game, so I would have been happy with any of them winning.

2/5 with one* (Ness, Flinstones) Yeah, that’ll fix us. (But thank you for looking out for our virtual health.)

I also thought BMG was a Vegas act, but they never even occurred to me. And knowing nothing about their act, I didn’t know they have a habit of throwing blue paint around the stage. I thought of them only as a bunch of men in blue makeup who… danced or something? I got frozen shoulder about 20 years ago, after doing a home renovation project. (I was scraping old popcorn texture off the ceiling and repainting, all of which required repeated overhead back-and-forth movements.) It was painful only if I tried to move that arm beyond a very limited radius, but took many weeks of physical therapy to overcome. At least my ceiling looked great! Ann Richards was the last liberal thinker to hold such a position of power in Texas, and even then was kind of an anomaly. Her legacy was overtaken by the Bush reign that followed, but there are still people here who miss her and her brand of politics. I had always hoped she would advance to the national stage, but that sadly never happened. She was awesome. I remember brusha-brusha-brusha from the slumber party sequence in Grease, but I had never heard of the actual toothpaste. Clearly, even clever packaging couldn’t make it a lasting success. I think “oleomargarine” was how it was identified on packages when I was a kid? I don’t know when the prefix was cut. And yes, oleo shows up frequently in the NYT crossword. There is also an alternate spelling, olio, which I learned from Spelling Bee but have never seen anywhere else. Wait, so for years and years the makers of Flintstone vitamins ignored main character Betty in favor of a car? I’m indignant. I bet that stupid Bam Bam made it in before her, too.

Ana: “I used to work at Domino’s. I made some great pizzas.” Me: “No, you didn’t. You were working at Domino’s.” I won’t delve too far into the whole autism debate, other than to say it’s impossible to judge the whole of a person’s character based on the limited (and heavily edited) clips from a TV show. I have seen Jonathan be sweet and supportive, demonstrating why Ana may have fallen for him in the first place. I have also seen Jonathan be controlling and mean, demonstrating why she probably left his sorry ass. How much of Jonathan’s personality can be attributed to neurodiversity and how much of it is a matter of temper management (or lack thereof), no one can say. But I do know one thing: it is possible to be autistic AND also be a dick. Two things can be true at the same time.

My problem with NuLu is she has two modes: coma or obsession. After she woke up (and bounced out of bed, fresh as a daisy), all she could think about was Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte (Rocco who?). Then Charlotte returned to PC, whereupon NuLu promptly forgot about her. (Where is Charlotte, BTW? Is she still in town? Is anybody watching her?) This freed NuLu to redirect her fixation to Brook Lynn’s teenaged womb. So now we have an endless loop of Dante has a Right to Know Right to Know Right to Know. And once Dante Knows, what then? What will Girl Reporter obsess over next? I don’t know, but I’m already exhausted thinking about it.

Here’s my trick: Danny’s the one who looks like a cabbage patch kid. So I just imagine Sam giving birth in a cabbage patch. Through her jeans. While wearing stilettos. It took me forever to tell them apart, too.

Sai had confidence, but hers was of the scrappy variety. Joe and Eva seem to feel anointed in some way, as if they’re the most deserving of the Deserving Strong. I can get behind the first kind of confidence, but the second kind just annoys me. That’s how a good godfather gets things done. So you’re saying Kyle is the consigliere?

I liked Eva a lot at first, but my affection for her has been slipping with each episode to the point where I can now say… Yeah, Eva’s kind of a bitch. My affection for Joe is also being sorely tested. I hate how entitled the two of them seem. They’re listing potential evictees based on some Jova formula of worthiness, which apparently comes with a big fat side helping of Smug. I see Eva easily coasting to the end. Not because of production manipulation, but because everyone in this game is hyper aware of social media, and is unwilling to be cast as the person who snuffed the poor autistic woman’s chances. I find that very annoying. A person with autism should absolutely be granted the same opportunities as anyone else, but they should also be subject to the same scrutiny and standards. And right now, my standard is I don’t like Eva. I’m disappointed in Kyle. I have been rooting for the Kyle/Kamilla Stealth Alliance, but I think Kyle is less invested in it than I am. I understand why he doesn’t want to show his cards to the Strong Person Alliance, but at some point he has to pick a side. This may have been the deciding point, and if so, he chose the wrong one. There have been some good posts about why Mitch may have felt uncomfortable aligning with Star and Mary, but I think it comes down to Mitch’s insecurities. He wanted a seat at the Cool Kids table, and he got one. He won’t have it for long, though. Dammit, Mitch, you could have made this a fun season. I’m sad about Star. I’m pissed that she gave away her idol. But I see that as evidence of her big heart, not a bad game move. She was my favorite, and she will be missed.

Yesterday’s FJ came to me pretty quickly. It was one of those occasions where the right thing either pops into your head or it doesn’t. Lucky for me, this one of the occasions when it did. As for today’s FJ, I have no idea. Mr. Helens is out of town, so I will be holding on to today’s and tomorrow’s episodes until he returns. See you on Monday! I responded with a laugh emoji only because I experienced the same pain. And also, what was it with the ‘70s and death songs?? There was this one, “Billy Don’t Be a Hero”, “Honey” (“See the tree, how big it’s grown…), and others I can’t think of right now. It was quite the morbid decade. PS- sorry if I just gave you more earworms. Oh, has that started? Did Yogesh beat Brad?? I don’t want to know. I guess that’s another thing I’ll find out next week. But as to your other points: 1) That’s my Brad. Don’t make me fight you. And 2) You are correct, they suck.

I’ve heard “VAL-et” many times, but only from a British person’s mouth. Otherwise, it’s always “Val-LAY”. Maybe Ken’s been watching a lot of BritBox. I was excited to figure out FJ today, breaking a long drought. Pinkerton also crossed my mind briefly, but that was several decades too early for the clue.

My only guess for FJ was Stephen King, because he’s tall. (He was also my pre-guess, so already stuck in my head.) The husband then pointed out the “reacher” part of the clue, which got me to Lee Child. Can’t take credit for it, though. I’ve never read anything by Lee Child, and didn’t see the Reacher movie, so it was just cultural osmosis for me. Liam was really growing on me, and I’m sorry to see him go. I was also surprised— I thought he’d be around for a long time. I was happy for the new champ, though. She was cheerful and excited to be there, and I always appreciate a gutsy wager. Nah, it just seems that way because we keep getting older. 😉

I don’t know why, but this brought to mind Charles Durning performing “Dance a Little Sidestep” from Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Which would be a great number for Drew to perform at the Nurses Ball. And suddenly that’s all I want to see.