OriginalCyn

When they announced Tatiana's name, I screamed, followed by a few tears of happiness. She really deserves one Emmy for each characters she portrayed this season, but I'm satisfied with the one.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! Tatiana Maslany wins Best Actress in a Drama Series!! I can die a happy woman now.

I've had dibs since he was in one of my classes at UGA in the mid-80s, LOL. The man is sex on a stick.

You're always welcome to sit at my table (I've been getting a little lonely all by myself, lol.

Steve Harvey's can kiss his career as a TV Host bye-bye after that fuckup. The only reason I wish Trump still owned the pageant would be for him to have sailed down after that screw-up to tell him, "You're FIRED!!" Gotta say, though, I was pulling for Philippines to win as she had that "It" factor in spades, along with a sweetness to her that the others were lacking….I was also a bit "huh?" at Miss USA placing 2nd runner up, given that her answer to the final question had far more depth and intelligence than Colombia's shallow "I should win because I have all the attributes of a Latin woman…"

Ugh...right there with ya on this. I cannot stand that kind of twee crap*, especially when the setting and context are such that the song and dance are intended to come across as organic and spontaneous. It doesn't work with the first viewing, which is bad enough, but after the damn thing has aired eleventy-billion times, I'm ready to use my TV for target practice. *My irritation with this type of song/dance extends to TV shows -- especially sitcoms -- in which S/D routines are non-existent. IME, they come across as something forced into the script for no reason other than to highlight a cast member's that usually remains hidden, as it should be. You want America to watch/hear you sing and dance? Go on Broadway or film a musical and leave your day gig alone. My Ex decided to try this shit with the laundry after we'd been married about six months, only to fail miserably at pulling it off. After dating for three years, during which time I'd seen him do laundry countless times from start to finish without fucking anything up, did he really think I'd buy into his claim of not knowing how to do it?! The only thing he succeeded doing was to turn three cashmere sweaters into potholders. When I pulled the three former cashmere sweaters-turned-potholders out of the dryer, he was laughing his ass off to the point of nearly pissing himself. I engaged in a little quid pro quo when I watched him open the next month's Amex bill that included a $573.00 charge to replace the sweaters he destroyed. He sure as shit wasn't laughing. TBH, I wasn't either -- one of the sweaters he ruined was a Chanukkah gift from my father, the last one I ever received from him before he passed away. This was my thought as well. I didn't hate the movie, but I had the misfortune of going to see it opening weekend and knowing nothing about the subject matter (but thinking it was supposed to be hilarious, not a drama with a few bits of humor). At the time, my father was in the end stage of pancreatic cancer, the same disease Peter Coyote's character had; that particular story arc was extremely difficult to watch, but his/Robin's final scene together (ending with his death) cut me to my core so deeply that I left the theatre (even though Dad was terminal, watching that scene was when the reality of his impending death landed on my like a ton of bricks.

Almost time to crack open a couple of glo-sticks, get your copy of Water Prayer Rasta mix (Matt the Alien Remix, of course) cranking on the turntable, and get your groove on! Regarding next weekend's Season Three Premiere, Space and BBCAmerica made the command decision to kick things up quite a few notches and turn the Premiere's Volume up to Eleven (as far as I'm concerned, the more volume given to Orphan Black, the better). For starters (and as originally posted upthread), next Saturday's premiere is going to be aired on all of AMC Network's channels. In addition to OB's North American home channels of Space and BBCAmerica, it will also be shown simultaneously on AMC, SundanceTV, IFC (the Independent Film Channel), and We TV. It get's even better, though -- #CloneClub will be getting next weekend's party started a bit sooner than 9:00 p.m. Saturday. Beginning on Friday night at Midnight, IFC (Independent Film Channel) will air all 20 episodes of Orphan Black's first two seasons. This will wrap up at 8:00 p.m. EDT, one hour before the Season Three Premiere.

So once again, NBC is going to ignore the one discipline in which the US is pretty much a lock for a medal -- Ice Dance (Chock & Bates). Who the hell makes these decisions for them? *rolls eyes*

Seeing the complexity of the way King Eckbert plotted to carry out the slaughter of the the Viking settlement, it's obvious that, much like a Chess Master, he thinks several moves ahead and plans accordingly. One thing's for sure - I would never want to play poker with the dude. As much as I would love for Ragnar to kick the ever-lovin' shit out of Eckbert, Athelwulf, and anyone that crosses his path, there is no way King Eckbert doesn't have something in store for Ragnar. He has to know that as soon as word reaches Kattegat, Ragnar will return to Wessex to seek revenge, and Eckbert will be waiting for him. Also, don't forget that King Fat Ass of Northumbria vowed to destroy Ragnar, so I imagine he and Eckbert have something "special" in store for him.

Yup, that's the one. I'll see if I can find the clip of her on the catwalk on ANTM. You're absolutely right about that beach pose - a maroon if I ever saw one. Here's the fashion show from the ANTM finale: In each runway pass, the models are supposed to get increasingly scary and dramatic but continue to model through it and "Strike a Pose." I've posted the time-stamp for each of Caridee's passes on the runway. The final one is the best as she's a hot-ass fucking mess from head to toe the entire time: First pass: 1:22 Second pass: 2:10 Third pass: 4:42 Here's the Stelara ad with her stroll through the seasons, complete with soulful stares, chest-waggling, pigeon-toed posing, and the marble-mouthed voiceover:

Thanks, bilgistic :) ******** As of late, they've been airing a relatively new commercial for Stelara (psoriasis medication) featuring Caridee English from America's Next Top Model that grates on my last nerve. For starters, her diction throughout the entire commercial is just awful, and throughout her voice-over, she keeps speeding up and slowing down. When you put those two things together, she winds up sounding like she's trying to set a speed-record for reciting The Tale of the Jabberwock with marbles in her mouth. Back when she won ANTM, the Fashion Show during the F2 was one of the most memorable moments in the show's history due to Caridee's OTT theatrical runway walk and posing that were simultaneously hilarious and cringeworthy -- back then no one thought they could ever get any worse. This is the only way I can describe how it looks these days: Caridee struts a catwalk and strikes a pose about as well as Elaine Benes boogies on the dance floor. The cable channels have been airing this thing non-stop, so if I have the TV on for any length of time, I'm treated to this hot mess three or four times an hour.

JLD's Old Navy commercials were fast-tracked onto my Automatic Mute List. I've wracked my brain trying to understand why Old Navy feels this type of personality will appeal to consumers, because I don't know a single person that doesn't hate this series of ads. Seriously, Old Navy, what the fuck?! The following surely cannot be their sales concept: When it comes to buying clothes somewhere, there's no better inspiration to start spending than watching a celebrity spokesperson who's an overbearing, self-important gasbag invade a girl's personal space and, at the same time, give her the third degree in a voice only slightly louder than a dump truck being cranked on a Winter morning. The Old Navy ads are agonizing enough when watching on a regular TV, but watching online takes it to a whole new level of torture. For some reason, when streaming live television via comcast's website, they run the fucking Old Navy ads twice (back-to-back) during Each. And. Every. Commercial. Break. For added viewing pleasure, the ad's default volume is almost twice as loud as the programming. This? 24K comedy GOLD. Ohhhhhh....don't get me started on ads that feature destructive fuck trophies. In that ad, I'm not sure which is more infuriating - The obnoxious little brat who jumped onto the dishwasher door, or his fuckwit of a Mother. The only thing I could come up with to reasonably explain her calm, smiling demeanor is a couple of Xanax that were washed down with half a glass of Pinot Blanc. Six is more than one?! Shit, you say. I'm surprised Captain Obvious didn't photobomb (videobomb?) this one. Stabby? Oh yeah. Anyone who isn't stabby after seeing that ad (that's for either Nasacort or Flonase) which, now that we're entering Spring allergy season, started running several times an hour on every goddamn channel this past week.

Tonight I sat down with a notepad to jot down any thoughts, snarks, and descriptions I had while watching (instead of trying to remember them after the show ended. Floki wasn't just annoying - he was full-on Jan-Brady-With-A-Raging-Case-Of-PMDD-Annoying. My thoughts were all over the map throughout this whole storyline. Between Siggy, Aslaug, and Helga having their identical dreams about The Wanderer, then having their 'dreams come true' (in the literal sense, lol) when Harbard showed up, and the fawning over him by Helga and Aslaug, it felt like I was watching the Norse version of The Witches of Eastwick -- we had the redhead, the blonde, and the brunette taking care of their families and the drudgery of daily life, all lonely for male companionship, when a mysterious, magical man shows up. Two of the women are cool with this turn of events, with the brunette being skeptical and suspicious. When Harbard healed Ivar, Kattegat kids started drowning, and then Aslaug and Harbard started doing the horizontal greased-weasel tango, the whole Harbard arc started turning very dark and taking on a creepy vibe. It was a little too much (eerily so) like what went on with Grigori Rasputin and the Romanovs. He was a Strannik (def.: religious wanderer) that supposedly possessed a mysterious/magical ability to heal Tsarevich Alexei's hemophilia and the pain resulting from it (that often required his being carried everywhere). Rasputin manipulated the shit out of Tsarina Alexandra, who was a bit of a kook herself, and she grew increasingly dependent on him to the point of obsession, often seeming to be under his hypnotic spell, and was allegedly taking the skin boat to Tuna Town with the dude. I was relieved that the show didn't take the Harbard arc down that kind of dark, almost evil path - it was sad enough that we lost Siggy :( . May I come sit at your table? I liked Floki well enough during the first season, and he was a total badass in the double-crossing of King Horik, but aside from that? Ick. Helga needs to steal his guyliner, kick his skinny arse to the curb, and hook up with Athelstan, which would give him a more interesting story arc (plus, it would piss Floki off to no end if his Helga started going heels to Jesus with his sworn enemy. Love this description! From the first time Kalf was onscreen this season, he (physically) reminded me of someone, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was, and it was making me crazy. I finally figured it out tonight -- he bears a striking resemblance to the dude in Braveheart that was Prince Edward's "military advisor" (code for lover) that Longshanks hurled out the tower window. Hopefully Ragnar will eat Kalf's liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti, and then hook up with Lagertha (though I have to admit, she and Ecbert were steaming of the camera lens -- yowza!!

Not sure (will have to re-watch), but I could have sworn there was also a photo of Billingham with Mitt Romney. Guess it's a BiPartisan Apocalypse :P Last night's episode was a definite step up from the Pilot, which was a relief -- I was a bit "meh" last week, but if I gave up on new shows because the Pilot didn't have me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, I would have missed out on kickass shows like Battlestar Galactica and Orphan Black. Billingham and his flock of cult members creep me the fuck out (Lauren Ambrose's character being the exception). It has a somewhat similar vibe as the Creepy Big Love Ranch on Orphan Black....and it seems they have their own little CloneClub of disposable Joshuas. Gotta say, though, that Josh2.0, with his somewhat flat affect, the dead eyes, his manipulativeness, and the callous force with which he killed the little black and white heifer is pegging the needle on my Damien: Omen II meter. So who are the Essene? Is that the name of the NM Cult, or is that a 3rd group that's now in the mix of things? In the Pilot thread, IIRC, there was speculation that Team Norway and Team New Mexico were in cahoots, but after tonight, nope -- there is no way such a deeply devout sect of Orthodox Jews would embrace and accept any group practicing the oxymoronic idea of Messianic Judaism. However, I highly suspect that Billingham's group doesn't ascribe to any of the tenets of Judaism; in order for Josh 2.0 to fulfill his role in whatever the fuck it is they're doing, the Bar Mitzvah was a necessary step/requirement, just as he had to be "pure" by having never set so much as a foot on the ground. At this point, I think it's fairly clear (at least IMO) that Team Red Heifer are all about fulfilling the prophecy of rebuilding Solomon's Temple, and Team Black/White heifer are aiming to unleash Armageddon. The questions/wild cards I have as of now are: 1) Who is Khalid working to round all of the gemstones up for? 2) Who are the Essene and what is their role in this? 3) Is it possible that Billingham's cult has been grooming Josh not as a priest to communicate with God (or even as JC), but as the Antichrist in order to hasten Jesus' return to do battle with him (any and all help on this subject would be wonderful as I'm a bit sketchy on the details concerning the Book of Revelations and Armageddon - for some reason, we weren't taught about Revelations in Hebrew School :P ) Random thoughts... - Is Anne Heche going to do anything in this show other than alternate between shrilly bitching at Peter 34984 times a day that he needs to back off/step away from the case and making those simpering, cow-eyed moon faces at him? Her limited, dual role so far is working my last nerve. - So Peter attended Seminary School and walked away from it "the day [he] was to receive [his] collar." With his being "partnered" with Golan, the two of them will have a decent collective knowledge of Judaism and Christianity while trying to crack this case -- How conveeeeeenient! [/church lady]. He seemed pretty freaked out when he was trying to swim upstream through that river of Nuns (plus the camerawork and editing seemed like a small shout-out to how The Exorcist was filmed. - Lastly, I had a really difficult time watching the scene with Josh, the machete, and the B/W heifer. I'm a total sucker when it comes to baby animals, and even the idea of their being harmed (the way he killed that calf was *brutal* ) in movies/on TV can bring me to tears. OT, but like most people I know, whenever those abused animal ads (that seemingly never end) come on, I turn into a offensive tackle in my quest to grab the remote and change the channel, but oddly enough, I can watch the ones with starving children living in horrific conditions without getting emotional, and that bothers me. I think I may be deeply flawed in that regard.

Having watched the second episode tonight, it was much-improved over the Pilot, which left me feeling a bit "meh" as well. I hope you will give watching another go before giving up on Dig. I've done script writing for both screen and stage, and I've learned from experience that pilot episodes, especially those in this type of genre, have to have a bunch of expository crap crammed into it -- they have to introduce the main players, provide varying amounts of character development and backstory to each of them, and insert a wide variety of informative bits and pieces to flesh out the setting, give the viewer some context, introduce any conflicts that are relative to the storyline, and lastly, reveal just enough of the plot so as to create enough tension, suspense, and intrigue to hook viewer interest and hopefully generate buzz and interest about the show. Overall, it's a challenge to fit all of that into a limited amount of time *and* make it entertaining, which is why pilot episodes, even for outstanding shows, seem to have moments that are clunky/awkward, seem out of place, are way too wordy, etc. When watching any new series, unless I can tell right off the bat that it's not my thing, I watch at least three episodes before giving up on it. By then, a well-done show usually finds its rhythm and flow, the clusterfuck of expository crap has cohesion and purpose, and it (and its plot) has a definite direction (even if it has yet to be revealed). (apologies for the writing nerd purge of pilot episode trivia)