OriginalCyn

Most dating site commercials have me mowing down small children in order to grab the remote, but the ad currently in rotation for Zoosk is one that, for once, doesn't reek of condemnation, desperation, or sexy-time... I like it because it doesn't take itself too seriously, it doesn't put an obnoxious emphasis on finding "THE ONE," and has kind of a cute/sweet tone to it. Also, the piano music it's set to fits perfectly with the theme and tone of what they're trying to promote. Then again, anything is better than the Crypt-Keeper-Pedo-Granpa from eHarmony and his demon spawn. ::shudder::.

There's still a full week until Thanksgiving -- THANKSGIVING!! -- and the Marshmallow World song about sends me into fits of sub-psychotic rage. What makes me ill about this holiday season isn't the portrayal of Suburban Solstice Bliss (as mentioned upthread) -- it's that damned near every store/company, be it Department, Big Box, Furniture, Jewelry, Automobile, or [insert store type of your choice here] has jumped on the fucking Seven Days Of Black Friday bullshit in the week running up to Turkey Day. As much of a PITA as Black Friday can be (whether you're working or shopping), it's always meant something special to me. Black Friday's always been almost symbolic in a lot of ways. It was the Official Start of the Holiday Season that had an understanding that in the month to come, you could look forward to things like: -- listening to and singing Christmas carols and all of the songs that go along with the holidays, sung by the likes of Bing, Nat, Andy Williams, Gene Autry, Irving Berlin, The Chipmunks, The Carpenters, Perry Como, Jose Feliciano, Burl Ives, Chuck Berry, et al. -- The Charlie Brown Christmas Special -- Decorating a tree (and the house) -- Enjoying cold weather -- The food....THE FOOD!!! Whether it's at work, at home, to and from friends and/or family -- Christmas parties -- Giving gifts to friends, family, and Toys for Tots. -- Ice Skating -- Hot cocoa with Frangelico -- Christmas Vacation, The Ref, A Christmas Story, Trading Places, and the other many Christmas movies. -- The smell of Spruce Pine, fresh baked pies, and a big-ass bird cooking in the oven. -- The candy (eville though it may be) **From reading this, you'd think I was rollin' in the holy, but in actuality, I was raised in the Judaic faith and am now a non-theist. I just really dig the Christmas season.

So many beloved TV characters, so much inspired rage from them.... Disclaimer: When it comes to watching TV, there are very few shows I watch during current season runs -- I usually either binge watch shows On-Demand and/or in syndication, so more often than not, I get a heavy "dose" of shows and characters, which definitely has an effect on my tolerance for characters..... That being said, and in no particular order....... 1. Sheldon Lee Cooper: Quirks? Awkwardness? General cluelessness when it comes to social situations, pop culture, and "protocol" (as he refers to it)? Various phobias? Love of SciFi, Comic Books, MMORPGs, and the like? No problem. Being a self-absorbed, arrogant, petulant, inflexible, condescending, insensitive, rude, immature, manipulative, selfish, spoiled brat? BIG problem. There are times I get so annoyed with his character while watching BBT, I would like nothing more than to reach through the TV, smack the shit out of him, and then proceed to spell out with great detail and in no uncertain terms exactly how he is behaving like a total and complete fucktard. I then get irritated with myself for hitting DEFCON 5 over a fucking TV character and either change the station or leave the room. 2. Alan Jerome Harper, D.C.: Like Sheldon, he's also socially awkward. Unlike Sheldon, it's *not* endearing. Like Sheldon, he nerds out on things he enjoys. Unlike Sheldon, his nerding out is rather pathetic. Alan's not just frugal cheap, he's an overbearing Mooch. That he's completely aware of the fact that he's an opportunistic free-loader, is unbothered by it (and at times seems rather proud of it), and flat-out refuses to change this nasty aspect of himself is a particularly repugnant character trait that I despise. He's overbearing, anal-retentive, petty, hapless, and phobic about change. IRL I have zero patience when someone constantly whines, complains, and laments about their lot in life, knows what steps to take to better their situation, but refuses to do anything about it except continue said whining, complaining, and lamenting. If I may be petty here for a moment, his man-boobs make me queasy, as does his prancing around in his tidy-whities (***BLEAH!!!***), and his "overbearing" laugh sets my filings on edge. There are times I think Jon Cryer must be a superb actor because, even though I know that he's nothing like Alan, I cannot picture/imagine him being any different IRL. 3. Dr. Gregory House, M.D.: He's already been described in this thread, but add me to that bandwagon. My former spouse possesses a frightening number of House's character traits and personality flaws, and I can assure you that living with someone like that is about as enjoyable as a Wasabi Enema. This type of personality and the behavior and actions that stem from it....it is not romantic, it's not entertaining, and it's not healthy. It's soul-draining, it sucks every last ounce of patience, compassion, and love from every possible source, and leaves one not only mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted, but also jaded, cynical, and in the end, wanting only to get as far away as possible from that person.

Even if Josh's departure wasn't due to possession/ingestion of illegal drugs and contract violation, there's no way they would bring him back this far into the competition. In addition to throwing off the number of eliminated contestants/number of episodes remaining, it would be a slap in the face to the assholes still competing. I re-watched the three shows leading up to last night's episode, and in Josh's TH segments, he made comments a few times to the effect that after getting cut on his original season, he had taken every precaution possible to make sure there was no way he could possibly be eliminated. You know, except that smoking dope thing. There was also one TH of his in particular in which he was rather snotty and nasty about Jason's anxiety and how he (Jason) needed to get over it and learn to deal with it. Listening to him say that, knowing now that he (Josh) was hitting the Wacky Weed to combat his own anxiety pissed me off all over again. What a fucking hypocrite. It also pisses me off that it's apparent that Clean Roc One, the King of the DoucheCanoes, is going to walk away with this competition -- although as of late, it seems like the real competition isn't about tattooing so much as it's who's the Most Arrogant, Obnoxious Nutsuck (the title of which CR1 is also running away with, although Erik isn't far behind and is gaining on him). After Josh was booted, those two ass clowns seem to have morphed into Regina George and Heather Chandler (yes, I'm "old") on steroids. Clean has always been an egotistical prick, but his "my-shit-don't-stink" attitude has been taken to a whole new level that is damned near rage-inducing. Last season, Scott worked my last nerve to the point that any time his busted mug was onscreen, I wanted to leave the room, but this season's Fucktard-In-Chief makes Scott seem downright likable by comparison. I'm not one prone to violence, but there are times that I would like nothing more than to pop the pompous jackass right in the mouth and knock those jacked-up teeth right out of his skull. What was amusing last night was seeing how Erik has rapidly puffed up his ego, starting when he, Don, and Aron(?) were on the roof discussing Josh's pot-smoking. Prior to that, he was (at least IMO) a lot more neutral regarding the other contestants (especially to their faces) along with being a bit more modest about his own accomplishments. Since then, though? Now that he's pretty much a lock for a spot in the F2, he's amped up the smarmy arrogance along with the smack-talk about anyone in the house who is Not!Clean! Quite frankly, after watching both of them, there isn't any monetary amount you could name that would entice me to let either of them come within 100 feet of my body with a needle. While talent and ability are no doubt important WRT tattoos, no way would I trust someone carrying that much negative energy to permanently alter my body. Also, who the fuck edited last night's show, a Middle School A/V class? Between the rough transitions, jump cuts, and those goddamned wonky-ass 30-second clip insertions during commercials (on two separate occasions, there were two of those during one commercial break), I was ready to put a brick through my TV. Lastly, Spike is notorious for insanely long commercial breaks, so I used my stopwatch while watching last night to clock the actual run time of this show. Out of the 60 minutes scheduled, 22+ of them were devoted strictly to advertising. If you include the opening/closing credits, scenery porn intros, "coming up" teasers, and previews for next week, it's between 24-25. IOW, the run time of IM is roughly 35 minutes. Subtract all of the Bitchery and Whining, and the tattooing aspect of the show is likely around 20 minutes or so. Fucking absurd.

Does anyone know if Eurosport (in particular British ES) will be doing live coverage? If so, it's not all that difficult to find a stream for it here in the States. I haven't bothered with an Ice Network subscription in over 3 years and was able to watch damn near every phase of every competition I was interested in seeing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Radionova has better costumes than last season's Majorette-On-Crack nightmare. Girl has talent to spare, but her team has some of the Euro-trashiest taste I've seen in 40 years of watching FS, and the tackiness of them unfortunately detracted from her programs [/oldfart]. Best of luck to Gracie and Jeremy this weekend.

What happened to this show? FFS, if I wanted to watch a bunch of whiny, petty drama, I would tune into Bravo (or similar crap on WE or Lifetime) that churn out obnoxious "Reality TV" drama en masse. I expect(ed) better from Ink Master, but it's morphed into a show that spends the majority of the allotted time on all the bullshit drama between a bunch of contestants I couldn't care less about and minimal time on the process of creating and executing of a kickass tattoo. It's a sad reflection on this SpikeTV when Oxygen (a women-centric network) has Face Off, a competitive show in the same vein as this one that focuses on the tattooing and artwork and keeps the petty dramatic to a minimum, whereas Ink Master is akin to a low-rent version of The Real Housewives franchise with the bickering and in-fighting as the primary focus and the aspects of artwork and tattooing as an afterthought given minimal time and attention. What in Blue Fuck were they thinking?!?!

#1) OT for a moment, but you hit the bullseye WRT the Progressive Left, particularly the Hollywood Elite. Their raging hypocrisy tends to make me stabby, as does each time some TinselTown Bimbo or Himbo takes to Twitter, gets on their proverbial soapbox, and then proceeds to makes a comment that highlights that he or she is an ignorant twatwaffle when it comes to current events, history, economics, or *insert subject matter here.* (See: Gomez, Selena; Cruz, Penelope; Bardem, Javier; Cruise, Tom, etc.) #2) I hadn't thought about security cameras on the jobsite, but Christine did seem like she was doing her best to obscure her face/head within the voluminous depths of her oversized hoodie. As far as DNA evidence that could link both she and Terry to Eric's murder though? Given her sloppy-ass housekeeping, she's fucked. As for Terry's monitoring cuff, there's no way that Christine would have allowed him to do that. In addition to the avalanche of problems that would cause, it doesn't jive well with her Rescuer Ideation. #3) I haven't seen him in anything else, but if his acting in other things is at this level (or higher), this guy could end up being the next generation's L. DiCaprio, D. Day-Lewis, or R. DiNiro. Y'all heard it here first! ;) Answering #2 first as it applies to #1.... #2) There were definitely fake drugs in that Methamphetamine Smorgasbord....When Eric first arrived at the club, the owner introduced Uncle Bobby as "The Bartender" -- he was the one selecting the meth rocks to smoke and chopping/setting up lines to snort. One of the things that Meth does to the brain with prolonged abuse is that it causes all kinds of paranoia (both with and without delusions or hallucinations). I could easily believe that Eric wanted the fucking drugs that were offered up to him on a silver platter by the best dealer in Philly, but after learning in that same phone call that on Daddy Dearest's orders, his Goon Squad was breaking the bones of every drug dealer/party buddy Eric knew, something about this wasn't passing the Sniff Test (not to be confused with the Meth Sniff Test which, according to Uncle Bobby, Smells Like Edelweiss. Or Teen Spirit.). Eric had already needled Danny about how mellow he was (when he's supposedly doing lines) while he was still seated in the booth and knocking back tequila shooters (which for all we know were "tequila" shooters). The easiest way to figure out if he's being set up in some way was to make damn sure that the guys he's with are taking the drug and not some sort of placebo. As soon as ?Armando? (his name began with an "A" but I can't recall what it was) split, Eric's radar started pinging off the scale, and it didn't take long for Zale to jump behind the counter, announce that he's the new bartender, and take control of cutting the lines and packing the rocks. He then gets all up in Danny's grill about how he "needs" to take a hit and then proceeds to practically force-feed a big bowl of Edelweiss into his lungs. As soon as Danny took that hit of real Meth, his Façade Du Tweak was proverbially fucked -- with the neurons in his cerebral cortex firing on about 80 cylinders, Eric would have figured out the game in about two nano-seconds. #1) After pondering on things for a bit, I can't help but think that Christine isn't the only one with a pathological need to play the role of Rescuer. Zale brutally raped Terry's girlfriend (a relationship that Eric was fully aware of) right after they'd been making the Beast with Two Backs. They'd had yet another heated discussion about telling her folks about them -- and that very afternoon, Terry had wanted to come clean to them about their relationship, but Emily wouldn't agree to it. Terry's harboring some massive guilt because he wasn't there to "save" Emily from Zale. During his and Christine's "Boo Boo Kitty" ( <------ LOVE THIS TERM!!) post-canoodling Chatty-Cathy-fest, he straight-up said that even though he didn't kill any of the Butlers (especially Emily), he feels like he caused and is responsible for her death. Christine is (presumably) the first woman he's been with since Emily. Along with having jizz backed up into his Astral Body , that's bound to cause to serious attachment and infatuation issues, especially with the woman who is got him out of prison and is trying to do everything in her power to make that permanent by clearing his name. At the apex of the episode, Eric Zale once again is going to attack and murder (and rape? There's no telling WTF his meth-infused, swiss-cheese-addled brain was thinking about when it came to Christine) Terry's New Squeeze? Oh Hellz Naw, not if he can help it. In addition to being the right thing to do, rescuing Christine from being murdered by Zale became a metaphorical/symbolic rescue of Emily from the same situation, which he couldn't do all those years ago. At that point, that was, IIRC, the first time we've seen Terry not in full control of his thoughts and emotions, and I think Terry's rage and hatred of Eric Zale completely consumed him in that moment. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he'd fantasized about putting a gun in that worthless sack of shit's mouth and pulled the trigger -- he'd been in prison for how many years? Prison often gives inmates way, way too much time to think about shit, and being wrongfully convicted/incarcerated as well as knowing that your life was being sacrificed so that this psychopathic, murdering, brain-fried douchenozzle can continue to waltz around the City with Daddy's Key? That'd make just about anyone bitter and vengeful, no matter how hard one tries to ignore it. You just nailed why Battlestar Galactica was such an amazing series and such a departure and breath of fresh air to both the Drama and Science Fiction genres.

Don't get me wrong - there's a reason this show is called "The Divide" -- its themes revolve around both the divide that exists between "classes," as well as the racial divide. If my post came across as accusing the show of centering solely around political parties, that was not my intent. That being said, it's no secret at all that Hollywood/the TV/Movie Studios is/are controlled by Progressive Leftists and, to a lesser degree, card-carrying members of the American Socialist and Communist Parties, and they view Republicanism/Conservatism with sneering disdain and fervently believe it is an eville that must be destroyed. If you want to work in the industry, you better by-god ascribe to their political ideology, and if you don't, you'd best keep it to yourself, because being "outed" as a Republican or Conservative in Tinseltown is career homicide (or in the case of self-identifying with the Right, career suicide). As far as the references on The Divide, off the top of my head.... -- In one of the first couple of episodes (can't remember which, and it's too late at night here to hunt for it on On-Demand), Clarke makes a very clear, very negative slam on Fox News, calling them out by name. -- In the episode where we learn about the powerful Zale family (IIRC, it's Episode 3), he is described by someone (again, going off of memory here, but I think it was either Adam or Clarke) as being a "rich, powerful, Conservative" who's, oh yeah, corrupt -- not only has he been buying off the police to cover up his sons felonious, violent crime, his conglomerate, Zale Industries or whatever it's called, also donated and then withdrew a financial donation to a charitable organization for the poor, causing the organization to go belly-up and the property they owned to be foreclosed upon, which is then being snatched up by? You guessed it -- Zale Industries. The scene in which this is covered is the one where Billie (Nia Long) is the counsel representing Zale during what I think was an attempt at Mediation of some sort. It did not end well for the charitable organization. -- As far as Christine's family goes, their political leaning is not revealed, but they're very "old money" in Philly. Granted, my experience in dealing with Old Money families is limited to a different region of the country, but where I live, they are overwhelmingly Republican/Conservative, and belong to Country Clubs with a strict "NOKD" (Not Our Kind, Dear) policy AKA the polite, blue-blood way of saying, "No Blacks, No Jews, No Hispanics, No Asians...No one but us White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants." While assigning that to Christine's mother's family is conjecture on my part, what isn't is that Daddy Zale admitted to Christine that her mother's family concealed exculpatory evidence that would have acquitted her father at trial......it's not political, but like the characterization of Daddy Zale, it goes to the "Wealthy White People Are Corrupt!!" ideology on this show. -- While there's definitely evidence from what Uncle Bobby discovered and told Adam as well as the reveals by Isaiah to Adam, there's a ideological bent that while what Isaiah (and the men under his command) did was corrupt, it's not "as wrong" because the "end justifies the means" -- regarding Social Justice and striking a blow for racial equality in Philly's Judicial System and in its Law Enforcement and balancing the "power" in the City of Brotherly Love. -- There's also an ideological bent on the show in that the Conflicted Hero/Male Protagonist of the show is from working Blue-Class/lower Middle Class America. Oh, and that the EVILLE antagonist/criminal is a Privileged White Male. As is his father, who has very little character development other than to be a mustache-twirling villain. When I re-watched the finale, I paid close attention to him during the opening scene when he meets Eric at the construction site and his meeting with Christine, and everything from his dialogue to his body-language is cringeworthy, bordering on Days Of Our Lives levels of eville character portrayal. He could have been a graduate of the Stefano DiMera School of Villainy. To sum it up, I think had they stuck strictly to the themes of Class and Race, it would have been a better show. Resorting to clichéd political characterizations of Conservatives and juvenile pot-shots at a News Network despised by TPTB in Hollywood is a cheap and shallow tactic for a show that wants to be received by viewers as intelligent. I've had the unfortunate situation of someone previously in my life who was a Meth addict, and if someone is familiar enough with it's effects, like Eric Zale, they can easily tell if someone is screaming high or not, even when they themselves are screaming high themselves. One thing I found astounding about Billy Magnussen in tonight's episode (as well as last week) is that he had the body-language, complete with tics, the rapid, rambling speech, the jittery eyeballs -- all of it, so perfectly that after watching it both times, I wasn't too sure he wasn't hopped up on Meth during the filming of his scenes. His portrayal was that realistic. If you like good TeeVee that makes you say "Oh Shit" (as I do), you need to watch Orphan Black (if you're not already doing so). If this show has you saying it 6 times in an hour, Orphan Black will blow your fucking mind. As will Tatiana Maslany.[/shameless plug for my favorite TV show]

Me either. Yikes is right -- Kill 'em all, let god sort it out. That was one way, I suppose, to try and tie everything up into a neat bundle in case WE doesn't pick up Season 2. Eric Zale really showed himself as the murderous psychopath he really is -- mad props to Magnussen for his acting chops in the last two episodes. The apple didn't just fall from the tree of Daddy Zale -- it was jet propelled from the branch with enough force to go a few yards underground. I'm usually immune to surprises on TV shows, but when he leapt over the bar and started stabbing Danny with the knife, I about jumped out of my seat. That's three times for me this summer, with the first two while watching Orphan Black (except OB had me simultaneously screaming "Holy shit!!" at the TV so loudly it scared the crap out of my two cats). Poor Terry -- after last week's episode, I had a bad feeling about what would happen the next time he and Eric crossed paths. Last week, during and after Eric's confession about massacring the Butler family, his casual nonchalance about it, especially the part about raping and stabbing Terry's girlfriend Emily, was horrifyingly chilling -- to him, murdering three people had the same emotional impact most normal people would have to swatting a few annoying mosquitos. When he followed that up with his not-so-thinly veiled threat that Daddy Zale could keep him out of prison *or* put him back in it, Terry's (well, Joe Anderson's) reaction was palpable. Books often describe how a character's face "darkened" with rage or nearly vomited upon being told something, but I've rarely seen an actor pull it off as well as Anderson did -- that was one of the few times I've seen an actor's face literally grow dark with disgust and anger. Props again to Magnussen for his delivery during that scene as *I* got rather queasy after he was done "just keeping it real" with Terry. Daddy Zale revealed just how much of an evil, power-hungry shit he is, but it also re-ignited my irritation with the writers/directors of the show. I'm not a Republican (Religious Right-Winger) nor am I a Democrat (Progressive Leftist), but their blatant "CONSERVATIVES ARE EVILLE!!" "FOX NEWS IS CRAP!!" "WHITE, WEALTHY PEOPLE ARE CORRUPT!!" shower of anvils has kept my eyes rolling like the wheels on a hot slot machine in Vegas. That, along with Christine being a colossal dumbass (especially for someone planning to be a criminal defense attorney), is my biggest criticism of The Divide. If they had left out the partisan political aspect, it would, IMO, be a far better show, but they just had to go there. Bleah. Did anyone else here get as much pleasure as I did when Isaiah smacked the shit out of Daddy Zale? And then verbally smacked the shit out of him with his parting comment? That comment hit DZ much harder than did the physical hit. What I am still trying to figure out is why he continues to pay people off, engage in all kinds of corrupt activities, and reward his fuck-up of a son -- he *has* to know that his son is a murderous psychopath, and to me it seems out of character that someone as hard-hearted and soulless as DZ would conspire to this level for Eric's sake. He's more the type that would have lost patience with Eric and written him off as a lost cause years ago. Is it that he's covering up Eric's criminal activity and meth addiction to protect his own self-image? That's the only reason I can come up with. At one point I wondered if Eric was threatening to expose his father if he didn't bail him out, but he's a cowardly, sniveling, gutless turd when it comes to his relationship with Daddy Zale -- in fact, I don't doubt for one second that his psychopathic rage stems from feeling castrated by his domineering father, resulting in psychological transference and/or projection of said rage onto his victims. Onto the rest of the Page family..... First of all, the final scene of Billie's phone ringing and going unanswered on the seat of her car, which cut to a wide shot of the car with the driver's door open. WTF was that supposed to imply/what were we supposed to infer from that? Up until that point, it seemed like she was supposed to meet someone to hand over the goods on Daddy Zale, but when the camera panned out, it looked like the location she was at was the same place where Jenny Butler tried to kill herself. Did one of DZ's henchmen abduct her? Did she fall in the lake? What a mess. If the show is renewed, Adam is going to wind up with some serious PTSD when he finds out that Uncle Bobby and the Cop he brought over have been (presumably at this point) savagely murdered while working off the grid to help him nail Eric Zale, his wife has (presumably) disappeared, and his main suspect is most definitely dead from eating a bullet fired from the (presumably) murdered Cop's gun. Speaking of, Daddy Zale is going to lose his goddamn mind ten ways from Sunday when he learns that his darling progeny is taking the celestial dirt-nap and his body dumped on his construction site. Again, if the show is renewed, I'm predicting right now that he's going to assume that Isaiah had his son killed and go after him with guns blazing. In fact, with his precious son now dead, and with his ominous comment to Isaiah earlier in the episode about how if one son goes down, the other one will as well, I could seem him destroying Adam -- not just his career; I think he'd get his goon squad that attacked Clarke to take Adam out. Christine wins Dumb-ass Move by a Character in a TV Series for not calling the cops after Eric showed up at her place high as a kite on meth and covered in blood from two different people, practically busted her door down, and then attacked and tried to kill her. He was the one who brought the gun, and if Terry hadn't returned when he did, the body count would still be three, but the third victim would have been different. Granted, Christine likely wasn't too far off the mark when she said that DZ would cover this up (or whatever it was that she said to that effect), but I don't think even he would be able to make this one go away. Lastly, Christine and Terry finally Got Jiggy Wit'It. It's about fucking time, as those two had searing chemistry together that made the coupling of Christine and Danny as boring and bland as elementary-school paste.

Back when this ad first ran, it was the topic of heavy discussion over at TWoP -- the rage (justifiably) directed towards this obnoxious, snotty little douchenozzle (and his parents, for raising him that way) was epic. If I'd owned a Highlander when that mop-toppped turd was all over the TV waves like a bad rash, I very well might have traded it in for a vehicle from Toyota's competition. This. So much this.

This is going all the way back to the '70s, but there was a commercial for Calgon water softener that was set in a (wait for it) Chinese Laundro-Mat, and the female customer was gushing about the wonderful quality of her clothes' fabric who asked how they were able to accomplish such an amazing feat. The Asian guy answers her with, "Ancient Chinese Secret," only to have his harpy of a wife to snark at her husband with said box of Calgon, snotting off by saying "Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?" 40 years later, and I still remember this damned commercial. And to whit, I've never bought anything by Calgon. Ahhhh.....Passages of Malibu, where "graduates" are no longer an addicts. That worked real well for Britney Spears, eh?

Great, snarky article from The Wire: The Enraging Emmy Nominations: 20 Snubs and Surprises There are no words to describe my ire towards the AoTA&S for the snubbing of Tatiana Maslany (and Jordan Gavaris). Glad to see there's outrage in every single article detailing Emmy snubs (I made a lengthy post with several linked articles in the Media thread over at the Orphan Black forum about this). Equally rage-inducing was the overlooking of The Americans for Best Drama and both Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell for Lead Actor/Actress in Drama for that show -- Margo Martindale received a Guest Star nod for about 5 minutes of screen time which, as much as I like her, is a bit of a joke. All three are also being heavily mentioned by the media for the Academy snubbing them. They should have ditched Kerry Washington for Keri Russell and Michelle Dockery for Tatiana Maslany. Meh. And Ellen Burstyn for Supporting Actress for Flowers in the Attic? Seriously?! That revelation damn near caused a spit-take -- how friggin' slim were the pickins in the category for that god-awful camp to merit a nomination?

Battlestar Galactica was another show that was snubbed year after year, and it not only earned a Peabody, the cast was asked to have a round-table discussion at the UN. Seriously, though, Michelle Dockery gets a nomination for moping around the entire season? And don't get me started on Kerry Washington. ETA: Tatiana is front and center (complete with photo) on the CBS Network's website about Emmy snubs. Good. I hope there's some serious, high-publicity outrage and backlash about this. EATA: Tatiana is also the poster child and first mention on CNN's article about Emmy snubs: Ditto for the L.A. Times (complete with picture of Helena): That last part had my eyes rolling into the back of my skull. Seriously LAT? I take *NO* fucking heart in that. The Boston Globe headlines with Tatiana being snubbed : Yahoo also brings up Tatiana: Every single article about Emmy snubs I found on Google mentions Tatiana. Every. Single. One. Between this and The Americans (along with Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, which is also being brought up in every article), the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences can go fuck themselves.

As you continue with Season Two, you will find plenty of discussion (both on the show and in these threads) about the references to mythology...and that's all I have to say about that.

I have never, ever liked Plushenko, his smug arrogance, his mullet, his insanely prominent proboscis with its prominent pores, his tacky-ass, Euro-Trash costumes, his abuse of Edvin Marton music, his attempts to be sexy (my brain is permanently scarred watching him do those pelvic thrusts in his FS at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics ::shudder:: ), and his empty "choreography" that resembles an apoplectic windmill doing what my mother used to call the "Tap-Dancing Tee-Tees" (if you've had or have kids, that's the hyper dancing around while holding oneself that little kids do when they have to pee but don't want to stop playing to go take a whizz). Going all the way back to the SLC Olympics in 2002, I have eagerly anticipated his post-Games retirement announcement four times, only to have that dream quashed. At this point, he's turning into a figure skating cockroach, surpassed by only Fumie Suguri in the "refusing to retire even though he/she is long past his/her expiration date." Lastly, I'd like to give a big, fat Bronx Cheer to all of those from the part of the peanut gallery who bitch and moan that Jeremy Abbott won't retire yet bemoan the thought of Plushenko no longer skating. Jeremy may not have the Gold Medals of EP, but his skating is far more interesting, intelligent, beautiful, organic, and emotional than anything Plushenko has ever put on the ice.

You're lucky -- in elementary school, Chicken Fat was used as part of our PE regimen, especially prior to the Presidential Fitness tests. When I first heard that commercial, I had some serious flashbacks and one seriously nightmare from those days.

About the male clones....from two articles: Hollywood Reporter Q&A with J&G: Yahoo TV Blog Interview:

Now that it's the middle of the night, I tend to start over-thinking things, and one thought that entered my mind was that during Cosima's NDE when she saw Delphine in the bright light, and Delphine said to her, "Don't be afraid....I will always be with you," it made me wonder if perhaps with Rachel's "You WILL be on that plane to to Frankfurt," she in fact killed her off, and Cosima's vision was a message from beyond. I think the show is better than that, but OB provides countless things to analyze and interpret in many different ways, and when I'm overtired and over-thinking, weird shit pops into my brain. However remote the possibility, Rachel's come completely off the rails and is spiteful enough to do something like that, plus I could see her viewing Delphine as a liability to DYAD that is better off being eliminated -- remember, she was supposed to do that with Leekie and barely spared him because he'd raised her. Delphine means *nothing* to her.

Regarding Rachel (from TVLine.com's interview with John and Graeme): They're either killing her off, or they're playing coy. Regardless, their take on her current situation is interesting.

Interview with Tatiana about the Season 2 Finale Q&A with John and Graeme on the Season 2 Finale ETA: More from John and Graeme about the Finale, including their take on Rachel/Sarah and Project Castor (and Ari Millen).

The military likely had that place protected like Fort Knox, with Marian's knowledge (as well as knowing that Helena was going to be nabbed by them). Mrs. S. was right -- Sarah is never going to forgive her for that. Was there some underlying reason I missed as to why Helena decided to leave Felix's loft? Also, my dumb ass forgot she'd been carrying her frozen embryos, so when the camera focused on the nitrogen container, at first I thought she'd left some sort of bomb. I had to process that one for a couple of minutes as it was swirling with the Holy Fuckedness of the episode until the light went on in my brain.

It would be a serious doozy, but there's no way. CreepyBigLoveRanchDude was a serious narcissist with a major god complex who wanted his own swimmers mated with the "divine" ova. To him, Mark was nothing more than a disposable source to carry out his bidding, and he'd have squashed him like a bug without a second thought.

I'll have to wait until re-watch at midnight, but "Castor" was used in the DarkNet chat, either as Marion's Pseud or as a verification code word. Marion also said to Sarah that the Military had control of Project Castor, which were the male clones.

Oh boy, just looked up Castor, and in mythology, he is one of the twins of Castor and Pollux, whose MOTHER was LEDA. Wheeeee!! Another mind-frak to discuss during the off-season.

The male clone? No -- it was Marc, the same creepy Onward Christian Soldier that just married Gracie. Now THAT is a couple that is going to have some major marital issues when the shit hits their fan. Damn, there is just so. fucking. much. to discuss; I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything. Loved the dancing clones and had a huge shit-eating grin on my face during that scene. Which went into tears when I thought that Cosima had died. Damn you, show. Helena's embryo's + Duncan's notes = cure for Cosima, if they can crack it. On that note, how will Delphine hook back up with the Clone Club? LOVED Rachel getting what that bitch deserved, and right in the eye, too. She'll survive, natch, but I can see her character falling down the same bunny hole as Kimberly on Melrose Place.[/old fart]